Austrian Advertising Council establishes Anti-Sexism Advisory Board

The Austrian Advertising Council recently announced that it has established an Anti-Sexism Advisory Board. This Advisory Board shall prevent gender-discriminating content in advertising and shall have a sensitizing effect on the advertising business. In the past, observations have been made that gender stereotypes are frequently used in advertising. It shall be the task of the Anti-Sexism Advisory Board to counter this trend.

The Austrian Advertising Council is a self-regulation body of the Austrian advertising business (“Society for Self-Regulation in Advertising”). As such the Advertising Council issued Rules of Conduct and General Principles of Advertising relating to ethics, decency and morality. Decisions of the Advertising Council are not enforceable and have no binding effect for the advertiser. However, decisions of the Advertising Council may be published which frequently leads to a voluntary stop of an advertising campaign not complying with these rules.