Advertisements that perpetuate sexist stereotypes, from men being shown as useless at changing nappies to women being unable to park a car, would be banned under a new rule being considered by the industry watchdog.

The crackdown by the Committee of Advertising Practice (Cap), which writes the codes that all UK advertisers have to follow, aims to rid television, radio, billboards, posters, newspapers and magazines of ads that promote harmful or offensive stereotypes. The new rule, which follows 10 months of evaluation by the ad watchdog, will be subject to a final public consultation before being put into practice.

“Our review of the evidence strongly indicates that particular forms of gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to harm for adults and children by limiting how people see themselves and how others see them and the life decisions they take,” said Ella Smillie, the lead on the gender stereotyping project at Cap.

The consultation, published on Thursday, gives guidance as to the types of ad that are likely to land advertisers and agencies in trouble with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which is responsible for enforcing the code set by Cap.



An example of an advert that would probably be banned under the new rules would be one that showed a man with his feet up, and family members creating a mess around a home while a woman cleaned up the mess. An ad that showed a man or woman failing to achieve a task specifically because of their gender – such as a man’s inability to change nappies or a woman’s inability to park a car – would also likely fall foul.

So too would body-shaming ads that feature a person with a physique that does not match an ideal stereotypically associated with their gender. Cap said: “The ad should not imply that their physique is a significant reason for them not being successful, for example in their romantic or social lives.”

Other areas Cap said advertisers would need to be careful around include stereotyping boys as being brave and girls being caring, as well as ads that belittle a man for carrying out stereotypically female roles or tasks.

“[There] is evidence that certain gender stereotypes have the potential to cause harm or serious offence,” said Shahriar Coupal, director of Cap. “That’s why we are proposing a new rule and guidance to restrict particular gender stereotypes in ads where we believe there’s an evidence-based case to do so.”

The advertising watchdog said it was not looking at implementing a blanket ban – it will still be acceptable for ads to feature a woman doing cleaning or a man doing DIY tasks – but that versions of this type of commercial would now come under scrutiny.

There have been fears in some quarters of the advertising sector that a crackdown on the use of some stereotypes – often a staple of ads intended to be humorous – could kill the industry’s creativity.

“The set of standards we’re proposing aims to tackle harmful gender stereotypes in ads while ensuring that creative freedom expressed within the rules continues to be protected,” said Smillie.

The tougher stance on gender stereotyping follows a major crackdown on airbrushing, which has seen major beauty adverts featuring celebrities including Cara Delevingne, Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts banned. The ASA has also banned ads featuring “unhealthily thin” models.