Last week, we called out Goda Perfume for their strangulation-themed perfume ads. Multiple promotional videos for the perfume brand depict a man with his hands around a woman’s neck, apparently in response to her alluring perfume - and the women love it. (Because who doesn't love the risk of neurological damage, stroke or death?)

Ad Standards will no longer consider complaints against depictions of women in sheer lingerie.

In response to a complaint regarding a Bras N Things shopfront advertisement featuring a woman in a see-through bra, Ad Standards told the community member who objected that the ad would not be reviewed by the Panel.

*Update - WIN! Revolution Beauty quietly deletes images from social media platforms*

UK-based cosmetics company Revolution Beauty has been slammed on social media for its porn-themed advertising.

A social media post shared yesterday includes close-up images of a woman’s open mouth, a tube of lip gloss between her lips and thick liquid gloss dripping from her lips, apparently referencing semen.

Lingerie company Bluebella has attracted criticism over a new ad campaign featuring British female rugby players on the field in lingerie.

The company claims the #StrongIsBeautiful ad campaign challenges stereotypes that “strong female form is not ‘feminine’”. 

Days after we exposed sex store Honey Birdette’s 74^th advertising ethics violation, our campaign on the failures of ad industry self-regulation has attracted national media attention.

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.

Our fifth victory for 2024!

NSW supporter Pat sent our Movement Director MTR this image late Sunday afternoon, posted to the Insta account of Boveda, which describes itself as a ‘Modern Mexican Tequila Bar’ in Thirroul, NSW.

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. 

Koala protection trumps safety of women and girls

Last year, we wrote again to a number of super funds invested in sex shop Honey Birdette's landlord shopping centres. We first raised our concerns with them in 2019, and called on them to divest from companies which hosted Honey Birdette's harmful, objectifying, porn-themed ads in their family-friendly shopping centres - read more here.

"Advertising and promotion of liquor that promotes or tolerates a culture leading to the objectification of women, or an idea that a liquor can (or is necessary to) promote sexual success, cannot be condoned."