Fed: Women wage war on raunchy billboards

AAP General News (Australia)
04-27-2001
Fed: Women wage war on raunchy billboards

By Jordan Baker

CANBERRA, April 27 AAP - Angered by a spate of raunchy billboards, women's affairs
ministers today vowed to wage war on sexist advertising.

At a Canberra meeting, Australian and New Zealand ministers said they would encourage
women to vote with their purses and boycott goods which used sexist images in their advertising.

A spokeswoman for Federal Status of Women Minister Amanda Vanstone said the ministers
discussed strategies to promote positive and diverse images of women in the media.

A powerful weapon was women's financial muscle, she said.

"It's clear that women, when they decide not to buy a product because they're offended
by advertising, have a powerful commercial impact," the spokeswoman said.

"Women do have marketing power and don't have to feel inappropriately represented in
the media ... they can vote with their feet or their purse."

The battle cry follows controversy over a series of billboards in which racy images
of women were used to sell shoes, whisky and food.

A Chiko Roll ad featured a leather-clad blonde on bicycle, while an ad for an employment
agency carried a caption saying: "Get ahead without having to give it".

NZ Women's Affairs Minister Laila Harre said women's opposition to demeaning ads had
waned over recent years, but was starting to build again.

"I think there is an increasing use again of women's sexuality and body shape to promote
products that have nothing to do with either our sexuality or the way we look," she said.

A spokeswoman for Victorian Women's Affairs Minister Sherryl Garbutt said Victoria
was establishing a committee to find out what women thought about their portrayal in the
media.

"Women, I think, are sick of being portrayed in sexually stereotyped ways," she said.

"Women are saying we're diverse people, we want to be portrayed in a diverse way."

Several ministers, including Senator Vanstone, NSW Community Services Minister Faye
Lo Po and Ms Garbutt, did not attend the conference but sent representatives.

ACT Chief Minster Gary Humphries, who chaired the meeting, defended his presence.

"I think frankly men do need to be engaged in these issues," he said.

"They shouldn't be, in any sense, sidelined by the fact that only women ministers discuss them."

AAP jb/jg/las/sb

KEYWORD: WOMEN NIGHTLEAD

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