I recently read an article in the 12th July issue of Stylist magazine, and one of their 'Elsewhere - Bitesize World News' articles caught my attention.
The article was named 'Bad Ads' and spoke about how the Social Democrat, Green and Die Linke parties in Berlin are going to be removing offensive ads, which portray women in a negative light, for example, as weak, naive or as sexual objects.
I've been an avid supporter for obliterating negative stereotypes and portrayals of women in the media ever since I studied Media at school. It was a topic which I wrote about for my A Level Media report, focusing on how women were depicted differently in the contrasting ad campaigns from This Girl Can and American Apparel, and came as a strong topic of conversation in my university interviews.
The plan would include a committee, who would pass judgement over whether proposed advertising violates their guidelines or not before they appear in Berlin. I think this is a great idea because it means no stones are unturned in a movement which sees women no longer having to feel guilty if they're not coinciding with the labels that society has created. However this will only work if the committee are genuinely concerned about the issue. Otherwise, what's the point?
This plan is similar to the one which Sadiq Khan put in place last year to eliminate ads, which conform to unrealistic stereotypes (similar to that of Protein World's 'Beach Body Ready' campaign), from London's public transport. So I'd like to see how it works out in Berlin, and I'd also like to see something similar across more areas of the UK, or even the whole of it!
Georgia.xo
