EU wants to ban 'sexist' TV commercials

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Dox47
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07 Sep 2008, 3:17 am

EU wants to ban 'sexist' TV commercials

Quote:

MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes.

This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY.

Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra's "Hello Boys" featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned.

The new rules come in a report by the EU's women's rights committee.

Swedish MEP Eva-Britt Svensson urged Britain and other members to use existing equality, sexism and discrimination laws to control advertising.

She wants regulatory bodies set up to monitor ads and introduce a "zero-tolerance" policy against "sexist insults or degrading images".

Ms Svensson said: "Gender stereotyping in advertising straitjackets women, men, girls and boys by restricting individuals to predetermined and artificial roles that are often degrading, humiliating and dumbed down for both sexes."

She added: "Gender stereotyping in advertising is one of several factors that have a big influence in efforts to make society more gender equal.

"When women and men are portrayed in a stereotypical way the consequence may be that it becomes difficult in other contexts to see women and men's resources and abilities."

The Advertising Standards Authority however had said there are already checks in place to prevent "discriminatory or harmful" material.

A spokesman said: "Although the ASA supports the overall objectives of the report... the approach suggested is inflexible and impractical."

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donkey
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07 Sep 2008, 3:38 am

yeah, welcome to europe, all these small minor ( memebers of european parliament)mep's trying to make a name for themselves and be controversial.
it will be regulations and guidlines if it ever progresses beyond the "look what i did for europe" stage that the proposer, some sweedish lady is interested in self promotion.
no one cares....really no one cares.

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jrknothead
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07 Sep 2008, 3:54 am

Does this mean that feminine hygiene products will have to be advertised to men as well as women?

What about the coca-cola bottle, fashioned to resemble the female figure? Will that be illegal?

It would seem that this law would be ripe for selective enforcement. It would be very hard to nail down an objective system for determining whether an image is 'sexist'...

Heh heh... I said NAIL... :lol:

Dox47
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07 Sep 2008, 5:02 am

We saved Europe from Fascism, then helped them rebuild from the ashes of war, for THIS? I believe some cliffs in France may soon become unstable due to all the bodies rotating in their graves...

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cliche
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07 Sep 2008, 6:32 am

Dox47 wrote:

We saved Europe from Fascism, then helped them rebuild from the ashes of war, for THIS?

Haha, what f*****g planet are you on?

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MrMark
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07 Sep 2008, 6:53 am

cliche wrote:

Dox47 wrote:

We saved Europe from Fascism, then helped them rebuild from the ashes of war, for THIS?

Haha, what f***ing planet are you on?

So, you disagree with Dox47's point of view?

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CanyonWind
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07 Sep 2008, 9:07 am

I rarely watch TV, but I often see males portrayed as irresponsible abusive bumbling idiots. The feminists aren't objecting to that, though. That's what they mean by "equality," in case anybody's naive enough to believe anything they say.

Just what we need for an entire generation of kids growing up without fathers.

If the reality wasn't so horrible, I could laugh at a feminist describing anything as "degrading, humiliating and dumbed down." That's the definition of feminism.

MrMark wrote:

cliche wrote:

Dox47 wrote:

We saved Europe from Fascism, then helped them rebuild from the ashes of war, for THIS?

Haha, what f***ing planet are you on?

So, you disagree with Dox47's point of view?

Sure. That's considered an intelligent argument in support of feminists violating human rights. Oppressors always have dumb thugs.

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DejaQ
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07 Sep 2008, 10:34 am

What about all the commercials with ignorant, selfish, buffoonish men who are kept in line by a sarcastic, rational, more attractive woman?

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MrMark
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07 Sep 2008, 11:37 am

CanyonWind wrote:

MrMark wrote:

cliche wrote:

Dox47 wrote:

We saved Europe from Fascism, then helped them rebuild from the ashes of war, for THIS?

Haha, what f***ing planet are you on?

So, you disagree with Dox47's point of view?

Sure. That's considered an intelligent argument in support of feminists violating human rights. Oppressors always have dumb thugs.

"what f***ing planet are you on?" is considered intelligent arguement?

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Dox47
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07 Sep 2008, 1:01 pm

cliche wrote:

Haha, what f***ing planet are you on?

CanyonWind wrote:

Sure. That's considered an intelligent argument in support of feminists violating human rights. Oppressors always have dumb thugs.

MrMark wrote:

"what f***ing planet are you on?" is considered intelligent arguement?

Actually, MrMark, I think Canyon wind was calling Cliche a dumb thug, not supporting his "argument". As far as my point goes, what I was saying is that it is sad given Europe's history with Fascism to see it treading those same paths again, well intentioned or not. That is what this sort of thing amounts to when you get down to it, thought police, and I simply pointed out that the men who died liberating Europe from tyranny would spin in their graves to see the path it has set itself on now.

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07 Sep 2008, 1:06 pm

Researchers are seriously concerned with the sexualization of girls and women in the media. It's a public health concern as well as a human rights concern. So banning nudity in ads, and sexiness in general, can only be a good thing, as far as I can see. Not to mention that nudity in a job description is sexual harassment. When would it not be? Paying someone to abuse them doesn't make it any less abusive, no matter how much money you pay or how old they are. There's research to support that.

Besides, sexist ads don't work as well. Use an attractive female to sell electronics? Or use a techie guy (or girl) who looks like he (or she) knows something. The second sells better. Placing ads with sexy tv shows is also less effective (I think - I don't remember the details right now, but it's something like that).

Beyond that I don't know anything about this issue. It's complex, and everyone has their point of view. I just spend a few days reading research in Sex Roles and it's got me a bit confused about how much of sex roles is learned and how much is innate.

donkey
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08 Sep 2008, 8:20 am

i refer you all to my original post where i said, no one cares...really no one cares.

it would appear that, i was wrong.

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08 Sep 2008, 6:47 pm

Dox47 wrote:

cliche wrote:

Haha, what f***ing planet are you on?

CanyonWind wrote:

Sure. That's considered an intelligent argument in support of feminists violating human rights. Oppressors always have dumb thugs.

MrMark wrote:

"what f***ing planet are you on?" is considered intelligent arguement?

Firstly, the Soviets were involved in more combat than the allies combined. Plus, they captured Berlin, officially ending the war. The Soviets liberated Europe, the Allies liberated France, Western Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, etc.

Secondly, there's nothing fascist about this proposal. Being from an advertising family, I think there's nothing wrong with gender stereotypes, it's portraying men or women as sexist objects that I'm against. There should be a huge difference between portraying a woman in the kitchen and wearing sexy lingerie.

India is also planning to implement the same proposal. I would support it, if it wasn't for the gender stereotype part of the law. I think portraying women as sex objects is not only very disgusting, it's also very bad taste.

Dox47
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09 Sep 2008, 1:33 am

Khan_Sama wrote:

The Soviets were invaded, of course they were heavily involved. We allowed them to take Berlin as a sop to wartime solidarity, as a symbolic thing. Let's not forget what they did on their way across Europe, raping 2 MILLION women (not just Germans, anyone who was around) and sending millions more to the slave labor camps. That is on top of the whole scale looting of anything that wasn't nailed down, whole factories were stolen and spirited back to the USSR. Just because they fought against the Nazis doesn't make the Soviets any less evil.

Having seen you argue before, I'll save time and add that any war crimes committed by the Allies, as they doubtlessly were, do not excuse what the Russians did. No one save the Axis powers themselves committed atrocities on the scale of the Soviet Red Army.

Khan_Sama wrote:

Secondly, there's nothing fascist about this proposal. Being from an advertising family, I think there's nothing wrong with gender stereotypes, it's portraying men or women as sexist objects that I'm against. There should be a huge difference between portraying a woman in the kitchen and wearing sexy lingerie.

India is also planning to implement the same proposal. I would support it, if it wasn't for the gender stereotype part of the law. I think portraying women as sex objects is not only very disgusting, it's also very bad taste.

What is Fascist about this proposal is that it is implementing a standard on morals that not everyone may endorse. No one agrees on moral values, let alone artistic standards. Allowing state control of these standards is a recipe for disaster. If you don't like a companies adds, don't buy their product and complain, what more effective form of protest against an advertisement is there?

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09 Sep 2008, 2:04 am

The EU is a big, undemocratic, oligarchial and oppressive piece of crap. It's articles like these that make me fear a "North American Union."

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09 Sep 2008, 2:12 am

The Anti-Sex League becomes reality...

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