The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has issued a fresh set of guidelines that bars objectifying any gender stereotyping, objectification, and depicting people in a sexualized manner to increase viewership.
The new set of guidelines comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding a deodorant ad.
Last week, Layer’r Shot’s commercial showed a group of men speaking in innuendos as they eye a deodorant displayed on the shelf and a woman reacting in disgust and disbelief.
The ad was withdrawn after massive backlash on social media. However, this wasn’t the first and may not be the last one.
Brands have banked heavily on such tropes. A majority of them would be deodorant ads in the likes of Axe, and Fogg that message through innuendos and crass portrayal.
The latest set of guidelines from the council aims to bring about a positive portrayal of genders through progressive concepts and shunning jokes about physical appearance. Through these guidelines, the council aims to keep at bay the stereotypes that creep in due to implicit bias. One of the guidelines among the new ones is about avoiding gender stereotypes that show one being superior to the other.
“No gender should be encouraged to exert domination or authority over the other(s) by means of overt or implied threats, actual force, or through the use of demeaning language or tone. Advertisements cannot provoke or trivialize violence (physical or emotional), unlawful or anti-social behavior based on gender. Additionally, advertisements should not encourage or normalize voyeurism, eve-teasing, stalking, emotional or physical harassment, or any similar offenses. This does not prevent the advertisement from showing these depictions as a means to challenge them,” says the guidelines.
