Formal complaints by at least 13 disgruntled people against large street posters displaying a woman’s bottom on adverts for Cape Town’s recent Sex Expo have been dismissed and the advertising found not to be mentally, morally, physically or emotionally damaging to those exposed to it.
The Advertising Regulatory Board — the body called on by the complainants to rule on the matter — also found that the promotional material was not harmful to children.
Numerous complaints were made against printed adverts for the Sex Expo in Cape Town that were fixed to street poles along public roads through the city.
The complaints varied in nature and included the following: “inappropriate visuals in public areas, especially concerned for children” and “explicit picture of a woman’s half naked backside ... this is degrading to women and offensive”.
Another complainant said: “We have young children and it’s inappropriate. Especially having to explain the reason for the sign boards,” while another added: “My children are exposed to sex as a commodity and to women depicted as objects. The visual of this advert undermines the value of women. In an age where human trafficking is rife, this is a grossly misplaced advertisement.”
A more strongly worded complaint read: “This is absolutely disgusting as I use this road every day for my school lifts for my young kids. Our kids are being exposed to pornography on their way to school.”
The advertiser is not a member of the ARB and declined to respond to the complaints. The ARB, however, undertook to rule on the matter to offer guidance to its members on the issue, as well as advertisers wishing to pursue any similar promotions in future. ARB decisions are not binding on non-members.
In applying the Code of Advertising Practice, the ARB viewed the complaints in terms of offensiveness, “unacceptable advertising — gender” and in terms of it being openly seen by children.
In judging the merits of the case, the ARB acknowledged “that there has been a degree of concern about the advertising for The Sex Expo, largely to do with the depiction of a woman’s buttocks in a G-string”.
Publicly mentioning sex and selling sex-related products is not banned in South Africa, and the event itself is legal. This being the case, the association between the image and the product cannot be described as problematic.
— Advertising Regulatory Board
However, it found that the image was “not actually offensive”.
“No inappropriate body parts are shown, and the image doesn’t depict a sensual act. The same image could be used to sell underwear, or be seen on a beach, without the same level of concern. It would therefore appear that it is not actually the image that is causing offence but the context.”
With the context being the promotion of a Sex Expo at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, the image was seen as strongly associated with sex and would therefore cause discomfort for many viewers.
“However, publicly mentioning sex and selling sex-related products is not banned in South Africa, and the event itself is legal. This being the case, the association between the image and the product cannot be described as problematic,” the ARB said in finding the advert not in contravention of the advertising code.
“Gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal must not be permitted in advertising, unless in the opinion of the ARB, stereotyping or portrayal is reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom,” the regulator found.
While the ARB admitted to “experiencing some discomfort at the use of a woman’s disembodied body parts to promote a Sex Expo”, the image used was found to be “neither in and of itself degrading, overly sexual, or negative” and was neither a gender stereotype nor a negative portrayal.
“It must also be noted that The Sex Expo is targeted at both men and women, and therefore intends to promote and depict the enjoyment of both sexes — consensually. The image depicted is a rather tame expression of the event, and is product relevant. This is not, for example, the objectification of a women to sell a car ... and is not sufficient concern to find the advertisement in contravention of the code”.
“While the association between the image and the Sex Expo would likely lead to some questions from inquiring children, the posters themselves do not contain any information about the content of the event, or what a person might be likely to encounter there. It also contains no information about the act of sex. This makes it entirely possible for a parent to explain as much or as little as they are comfortable with. Had only the title of the event appeared on the poster, it’s likely that parents of reading-age children would field similar questions,” the ARB said in judging the material in terms of it being viewed by children.
In addressing concerns about the posters being displayed along main roads, the ARB said: “While those routes might be used by parents taking their children to and from school, they are also high-traffic main roads and therefore travelled by the greatest number of potential attendees of the event. While it is unfortunate that families are exposed to these kinds of promotional activities, children have not been harmed, mentally, morally, physically or emotionally by this exposure, and therefore that this campaign is not in contravention of the code.”
