June is Pride Month, when the world's LGBTQ+ communities come together to celebrate the freedom to express themselves and continue the campaign for equality. For advertisers wishing to increase diversity in their ads, it’s important to make sure they don’t run into issues with the Advertising Codes.
Opinions
On occasion, the ASA has received complaints about ads where a complainant believes the depiction of sexual orientation in ads is, in and of itself, offensive. It’s important to note that the ASA would never uphold a complaint on that basis alone, as this Harvey Nichols ruling shows.
On the other hand, the ASA may also receive complaints about ads placed by organisations that might have ‘anti-LGBTQ+’ views.
While it is not the ASA’s place to arbitrate between conflicting ideologies, and organisations have the right to express their views (including in paid-for advertising), the Codes make clear that such rights are always subject to the rights of others.
Avoid causing serious or widespread offence
When depicting members of the LGBTQ+ community, advertisers should take into consideration rule 4.1 of the CAP Code, which states that marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. Sexual orientation and gender are among a number of personal characteristics that advertisers should take particular care with.
Ads that depict the LGBTQ+ community in a derogatory light or make use of potentially negative stereotypes, even when the intention is to be humorous or light-hearted, are likely to be considered offensive or harmful. For instance, an ad featuring representations of trans women along with the phrase "spot the stallions from the mares!" and a voice-over attempting to guess the gender of those featured broke the rules because it trivialised a complex issue and depicted several common negative stereotypes. On that basis, the ASA ruled it caused serious offence, and condoned and encouraged harmful discriminatory behaviour, despite the advertiser having consulted with a transgender support group during production.
Discussing your campaign with an organisation that supports and represents the community can help advise you on what’s likely to cause offence - however, campaigns that draw closer to the ‘line’ will still carry a fair amount of risk.
Tone and execution can be key
Whether or not an ad is considered to be offensive will also depend on the tone and execution of the ad. For example, the ASA ruled on a TV ad for Pot Noodle, which depicted a male actor dressed in women’s clothing playing the character of a WAG (a male footballer’s wife or girlfriend). The ASA judged that the ad wasn’t offensive towards trans people, as it was likely to be widely interpreted as a mockery of WAG culture rather than of trans people.
Be cautious with sexually suggestive content
Where ads involve scenes likely to be considered sexual in nature – regardless of the orientation of the characters portrayed - advertisers should tread carefully with any scenes which may be deemed sexually suggestive. Any such ads should be carefully targeted, and in general, sexually explicit content should be avoided.
Need more advice?
CAP is here to support the industry in complying with the Advertising Codes where it takes steps to improve the representation of LGBTQ+ people in ads. For further guidance, try searching our AdviceOnline entries and if you need bespoke advice on your non-broadcast ads then our Copy Advice team are here to help.
Happy Pride Month!
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