Paris voted to ban ‘sexist and discriminatory’ outdoor ads

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March 29, 2017 1:01 PM

The French capital awarded a contract for outdoor advertising space to JCDecaux and demanded that no offensive ads are distributed.

Protesters covered Saint Laurent ads in Paris with stickers.

The Council of Paris – the assembly responsible for governing the city – voted on Tuesday for a new contract for outdoor advertising in the French capital, which includes a ban on any "sexist and discriminatory" ads appearing across the city.

The new contract, effective November 20, 2017, calls on the outdoor advertising company JCDecaux — which won the contract — not to distribute any ads including:

Sexist stereotypes
Homophobic images
Any degrading, dehumanizing, or offensive representations of women and men
Ethnic discrimination
Discrimination of nationalities
Religious discrimination
Ageist images
Images that adversely affect human dignity

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a press release (translated from French): "After London and Geneva, which already put in place similar measures, Paris is showing the way by taking all possible actions to prevent the distribution and promotion of images degrading to certain categories of citizens."

During Paris Fashion Week, the capital's outdoor advertising sites because the center of attention over a series of "porno chic" ads from fashion brand Saint Laurent that showed underweight models in fishnet stockings. The French advertising watchdog, Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité, said it had received more than 200 complaints about the campaign and made the fashion brand take down its ads.

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