Earlier this year I complained to the Advertising Standards Bureau about a TV advertisement for Guest's Furniture in which a woman hits a man with her handbag knocking him off his feet, while a voice-over says "All our prices have been knocked down". I pointed out that if the ad had shown a man knocking down a woman, it would not have been screened, so why was it acceptable for a woman to show unprovoked violence towards a man? [Feminists of course define “domestic violence” as violence by men against their partners. Violence by women against men or children does not count] The ASB did not uphold my complaint saying they had decided the advertisement was humourous, but I was pleased to note that the ad promptly disappeared. This indicates that even if your complaints about violence or gratuitous sexual depictions in the media are unsuccessful, it does have an impact because complaints are passed on to advertisers them for their comments. As advertisers want to sell their products, they will stop showing ads that upset or annoy viewers. Paul Hotchkin of Media Standards Australia Inc. send out an excellent email alerting viewers to objectionable material.
Ask to be put on his email list: viewers@mediastandards.org
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