Taste and Decency - the depiction of men

The mid-1990s saw a turning point in the way that advertising depicted the sexes. Up until that point, most complaints about the manner in which the sexes were depicted in advertising would concern the way in which women were portrayed; most often this would revolve around the gratuitous use of females to advertise products (for example the use of a glamorous looking woman, wearing very little to promote a product such as motor oil).

However, the 1990's saw the advent of females being shown in a more positive light in advertising. However, for some, it also seemed to herald the start of a trend where males rather than females were shown in an unfavourable situations.

The ads that most exemplified this turnabout in the way in which the ads were being shown were the Lee Jeans - "put the boot in" and the Nissan "ask before you borrow it" campaigns both of which appeared in 1997. The Lee jeans poster showed a stiletto-shoed, jeans clad leg hovering precariously over a naked male bottom. The Nissan television commercial showed a series of ads whereby women would wreak revenge on their male partners for their having apparently "borrowed" their female partners' car without their permission. For those who made complaints, the ads showed women in increasingly strong roles whilst emasculating the male figures.

Complaints about the depiction of men in advertisements have risen since the mid-1990s. And whilst the numbers concerned do not rival those received about the depiction of females, they are significant.

In broad terms the complaints fall into two camps; men being made to be the butt of jokes or shown as a laughing stock or men being shown in a demeaning manner.

EXAMPLE RULINGS

The following give some recent examples of ads that have generated complaints because people were unhappy about the way in which they portrayed men.

Coors Carling (2002)
An advertisement which ran on both television and in the cinema prompted a number of complaints to the regulators. The commercial showed a woman returning home to find her male partner, sitting, drinking beer surrounded by a mess. In attempting to clear away the empty beer cans, she inadvertently spills the remnants on the table, which the man then licks away. The woman then pours beer all over the flat with the man following her on his hands and knees, licking up the spilt beer. The flat is then seen sparkling clean. The penultimate shot shows the man licking the bathroom clean, including the toilet bowl. The last scene shows the woman in the bedroom wearing only underwear. She pours beer onto herself and the man can be seen crouching with his tongue sticking up. The word "REWARDING" then appeared on the screen. Viewers of the ad found it to be lewd, offensive and demeaning to men in its inference of oral sex.

It was considered that most viewers of the ad, which was only shown in the cinema with films rated 15 or over, would find the woman's method of getting the man to clean the flat humorous. We considered that the advertisement neither demeaned men, nor that most viewers would find the couple's interaction offensive. We therefore considered that the intended audience would not find the advertisement offensive.

Lacoste pour homme
59 viewers were upset by an ad for this aftershave, which showed a man walking around his flat naked. Though the shots were carefully angled, his bottom could be seen on several occasions. The complainants were all concerned that children might see the ad, and they concerned that the level of nudity shown was inappropriate, particularly in the early evening.

It was noted that the advertisement was not shown around programming specifically made for children. It was considered that the nudity contained in the advertisement was not particularly sexual and hence the ad could continue to be shown, with the continued restriction on being shown around children's programming.

Lever Faberge - Lynx (2003)
A cinema commercial for an anti-perspirant showed the following situations: a group of men hugging at the end of a football game; a group of men hugging in a nightclub; two smaller men sitting in a sauna and then a larger man entering and seating himself between them; men dancing arm in arm, in a circle wearing loosely buttoned shirts and bow ties dangling around their necks. In all the scenarios the men were sweating. A voiceover stated "Men's sweat only attracts other men. Is that all you want".

Concern was expressed that the ad implied that attracting other men was a negative thing, which the complainant found very offensive. However, the ASA disagreed. It was considered that most viewers of the ad would see it as humorous depiction of men bonding. It concluded that most viewers would not interpret the ad as the complainant had suggested and would not be offended by its content.

Newpaper Marketing Agency (2004)

81 complaints were received about an ad that featured the body of a man impaled on large black-stiletto heeled shoe, when it was shown in a number of national newspapers. The complainants all considered that the ad trivialised violence, especially against men and that its appearance was offensive and inappropriate for the medium in which it appeared. We agreed with the complainants that though it was an obviously unrealistic image, the advertisement did trivialise and stylise violence, and ordered that it should not be used again.