Stockholm bans sexist advertising in public

STOCKHOLM has banned sexist advertising in public spaces, giving the authorities the power to forcibly remove offending images of women 24 hours after they are erected.

Stockholm City Council voted on Monday to ban advertisements which “present women or men as simply sex objects”, “show a stereotypical image of gender roles”, or “in any other demeaning fashion are obviously sexually discriminatory”.

Only one of the eight parties on the council, the populist Sweden Democrats, opposed the move.

Daniel Helldén, the Green Party deputy mayor who has driven through the new law, said that sexist advertising caused many citizens distress. “It affects a lot of people, especially younger women,” he said. “It makes them think about their own bodies and how they look and feel in a negative way.”

He said the city authorities were ready to start enforcing the legislation as soon as it comes into effect in three weeks’ time, but hoped they would not have to. Maybe the companies won’t put up ads which are sexist or objectifying if they know we’re going to remove them after 24 hours,” he said. “So if it’s working well, we won’t have to use this legislation.”

The new law follows similar bans on sexist advertisements instituted in Paris and Geneva. It was also influenced by the ban on “body-shaming” posters brought in by Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, in 2016.

Clara Berglund, the general secretary for the Swedish Women’s Lobby, said the legislation was necessary because advertisers routinely ignored the judgments of the Swedish Advertising Ombudsman. “We believe it’s an obstacle to gender equality that people on their way to work and to school have to see these images,” she said. “There is big support from the public to have this ban.”

‘Maybe companies won’t put up ads which are sexist or objectifying if they know we’re going to remove them’