An air conditioning advert that was banned from appearing on buses and trams in Nottingham because it “could cause offence” continues to feature on billboards around the city.
The advert for the Not Just Cooling brand features the slogan “Your wife is hot!” alongside a picture of a young woman in denim shorts and sunglasses.
It was originally scheduled to appear on seven buses owned by Nottingham City Transport but Adverta, the partner responsible for placing the adverts, blocked it before it was released.
A spokesperson said: “We decided not to allow it, taking the view that it was not appropriate.”
However, it is still in prominent locations around Nottingham – including at the junction of Woodborough Road and Porchester Road in Mapperley.
If I had young children, I wouldn’t want them passing that on the way to school.Professor Carrie Paechter
Professor Carrie Paechter, director of the Nottingham Centre for Children, Young People and Families, told the BBC she wanted the advert removed.
“If I had young children, I wouldn’t want them passing that on the way to school, because of the messages it gives them about society,” she said.
Lee Davies, who runs the business and designed the advert after seeing similar messages on US billboards says it was just a “little bit of harmless fun”.
He says he ran the idea past his team of engineers, who are all men, and discussed the idea with his mother and wife, who approved too.
Advertisers are now working under new, stricter rules, from the ASA [Advertising Standards Authority] that came into force last month prohibiting harmful gender stereotypes in adverts.
The guidelines stipulate that ads may feature people undertaking stereotypical roles or characteristics but not suggest stereotypical roles or characteristics are always uniquely associated with one gender, the only options available to one gender or never carried out or displayed by another gender.
They also state that ads may feature glamorous, attractive, successful, aspirational or healthy people but they should take care to avoid suggesting that an individual’s happiness or emotional wellbeing should depend on conforming to an idealised gender-stereotypical body shape or physical features.
The ASA told HuffPost UK it had received two complaints about the advert since the publication of the BBC story.
A spokesperson said: “We’re currently assessing the complaints to establish whether there are any potential grounds for action but it’s important to stress that, at this stage, no decision has been made on whether an investigation is warranted.”
