UK Bans “Harmful Gender Stereotypes” In Advertising

The BBC reports:

The UK’s advertising watchdog has said it will ban “gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence”.

The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) said harmful stereotypes in adverts “contribute to how people see themselves and their role in society”, and can hold some people back.

The ban will cover men struggling with household chores or girls being less academic than boys. The rules come into force in June 2019.

CNN International reports:



Depictions of girls as less academic than boys or men being belittled for “unmanly” behavior will be soon be a thing of the past in British commercials. Advertisers will have to tread carefully in scenarios the watchdog cites as problematic.

These include commercials that show a man with his feet up while a woman cleans; a man or woman failing at a task because of their gender; suggestions that a person’s physique has held them back from romantic or social success; or a man being belittled for performing stereotypically “female” tasks.