UK advertising watchdog to ban ‘overtly sexual images’ on hoardings

London: UK advertising watchdog has introduced new rules that will ban public display of explicit hoardings, especially within 100 yards of a school, to stop the sexualisation of children.

Any advertising hoarding put up within 100 yards of schools will have to pass a strict new code designed to remove sexualised imagery from billboards while promoting their products under the new guidelines from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the Telegraph reported. The banning of raunchy billboard adverts near schools was one of a number of recommendations made in May 2011 following a Government-commissioned review by Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union. According to the new ASA guidelines, while billboards will be allowed to carry posters of models wearing bikinis, they will not be allowed to show them in poses that are deemed to be sexually suggestive and this covers everything from images of stockings and suspenders to poses where the legs are parted or even hands are placed on hips. The rules will put an end to the practice of using children to promote their products at school or on social networking websites while posters showing “sexually suggestive” pictures will be subject to “placement restriction” and the guidelines warn that this could include images where a couple are fully clothed, but in a “passionate clinch”. “Overtly sexual images” will not be acceptable for any use in public and these include “ads which draw undue attention to body parts, such as breasts or buttocks, in a sexual way”. ANI