The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA) has updated its Code of Ethics after a review to ensure it reflects community standards.
The new code, with clearer guidance to advertisers to on obligations to avoid harm to consumers and society, takes effect in February 2021.
Key changes:
- prohibiting undue focus on male or female anatomy, unless it is relevant to the product or service being advertised;
- avoiding the use of sexualised imagery or graphic violence or horror, particularly where children are likely to view the material;
- avoiding harmful gender stereotyping.
The new Code and Practice Note will be applied by the Ad Standards Community Panel when adjudicating complaints about advertising content.
The AANA Code of Ethics aims to ensure advertising in Australia is legal, honest and decent, and reflects prevailing community standards. It applies to all marketing communication targeted at consumers in Australia across digital and traditional media platforms.
The review consisted of public consultation, with more than 160 submissions, and commissioned research from Ipsos in metropolitan and regional Australia to help determine what Australians think is acceptable in advertising.
Community concerns were focused largely on the use of sexual appeal, nudity and violence in advertising and negative gender stereotyping.
“It is very clear from submissions and the Ipsos research that the vast majority of advertising in Australia meets the community’s expectations," says John Broome, the ANNA’s CEO.
"However, it is apparent the Code’s Practice Note should be strengthened to lessen the risk of certain advertising appearing, particularly the use of hyper-sexualised imagery that is not relevant to the product and can be easily viewed by children.
“All recent advertising has met community standards in relation to gender portrayal but we are moving to provide more explicit guidance to ensure that a problem doesn’t occur in the future.
"The Practice Note now explain that harmful gender stereotypes are unacceptable because they can perpetuate unconscious bias and rigid norms of femininity and masculinity that incorrectly shape what it means to be a girl, woman, boy or man."
The Ipsos research shows that the public perceives that the "dumb blonde’ and the "incompetent dad" are the most damaging stereotypes.
Community feedback is that the issue of negative gender stereotyping, and advertising’s role in potentially reinforcing it, is of greater concern today than it was some years ago.
Martin Brown, the chair of the AANA, says community expectations are not static. They shift over time and adevrtisers want to keep pace with expectations.
"Not only is this key to ensuring advertisers are socially responsible, our research shows that those brands that consumers view as being socially responsible deliver better business outcomes," he says.
The AANA will conduct a series of workshops with supporting material to help advertisers understand and
adhere to the Code and its associated Practice Note.
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