Ad Standards refuses to review complaint against Typo sponsored penis post
What's the point of an ad regulator that can randomly refuse to review ads?
When a sponsored Typo post advertising Christmas ornaments in the shape of a penis and a sex toy showed up in Collective Shout supporter Susan’s Facebook feed, she made a complaint to Ad Standards.
Typo's penis-shaped Christmas ornaments
But Ad Standards did not consider Susan’s complaint against the unsolicited penis ornament ad. She received an email notifying her that the Chair of the Ad Standards Community Panel had refused to forward the complaint to the panel for review.
Read moreObjectifying women isn’t “promoting autonomy”: We respond to Honey Birdette gaslighting
The sex store can throw out words like “strength”, “confidence” and “autonomy” all they want (sounds like someone has been using a thesaurus!) but it doesn’t make them true
After two more porn-themed ads upheld by Ad Standards, sex store defends its objectification of women for profit
Ad Standards has upheld complaints against two more porn-themed ads by Playboy-owned sex store Honey Birdette, with complaints now upheld against more than 80 separate ads.
A local community member made a complaint to Ad Standards over two different ads at Lakeside Joondalup, one featuring a woman in sheer lingerie pulling down her bra strap, and the other featuring a woman in sheer lingerie reclining while pushing her breasts together. Read the case report here.
Read morePorn themed ads which present women as objects to an audience that includes children. We are battling a scourge of violence against women and sexual grooming of children. I object to this company contributing to a culture which normalises these harms in my community.
Win - Women are not products for consumption: Pickle My Chili breaches ad ethics code
Ad Standards upholds complaints against sexist ads
If you thought that by the year 2024 we would have moved past using women’s objectified bodies to sell unrelated products, you would be mistaken!
We were recently alerted to a Victorian hot sauce brand, Pickle My Chili, doing just that.
Read more“Honey Birdette continue to breach the code and get away with it”: Ad Standards failings exposed in Australian media
Days after we exposed sex store Honey Birdette’s 74th advertising ethics violation, our campaign on the failures of ad industry self-regulation has attracted national media attention.
Read moreMedia Release: Shopping centre sex store Honey Birdette hits 74th advertising violation
Media Release
Shopping centre sex stores Honey Birdette hits 74th advertising violation
Playboy-owned sex shop Honey Birdette has been found in breach of the Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics for the 74th time. The latest Ad Standards rulings related to three p*rn themed window displays.
Since 2010, Ad Standards has investigated over 160 complaints about Honey Birdette promotions, upholding complaints against 74* – three in the last month alone. Two separate ads were deemed to have a “high level of nudity” and found in breach of Section 2.4 of the Code.
Read more34 Reasons Why Ad Industry Self-Regulation is a Disaster
1. The entire system relies on members of the public making complaints. There is no pre-vetting
This means advertisers can do whatever they want, and their ad will only be reviewed if and when a member of the public makes an official complaint. If nobody complains, the ad will not be investigated. Industry self-regulation takes the onus off the advertisers and instead places responsibility for regulating the advertising industry on individual community members.
This lack of pre-vetting has enabled companies to display billboards depicting gangrape and bestiality, school buses to advertise sex industry trade show Sexpo and the URL for live-streamed porn and prostitution, and Honey Birdette videos of sexual ‘choking’ to be broadcast in Westfield and other shopping centres – along with countless other examples.
Read moreMedia Release: Sex store Honey Birdette receives record 70th advertising ethics code violation
Playboy-owned sex shop Honey Birdette has received its 70th ruling for being in violation of Australian Association of National Advertisers code of ethics. The rulings relate to the company’s porn-themed window displays in shopping centres.
Since 2010, Ad Standards has investigated close to 160 complaints about Honey Birdette promotions, upholding complaints against 70. The latest ruling was announced 13 March, with two separate ads deemed to have a “high level of nudity” and found in breach of Section 2.4 of the Code.
Read moreNew children's ad code fails to protect kids from BDSM-themed sex shop ads
A new Children's Advertising Code has come into effect as of December following a review by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), but it is ultimately meaningless.
Read more