A University of Sydney ad that encouraged students to “unlearn” the meaning of “criminal” has been found by the Advertising Standards Bureau to be racially discriminatory – for the second time.

The ad, part of a marketing campaign around critical thinking and “unlearning” different concepts, showed two pairs of brown hands behind a chain link fence. The words “unlearn criminal” were placed above, with “criminal” crossed out.

It was initially ruled in November last year that the ad breached the bureau’s standards around racial vilification because it created “the overall impression...that non-Caucasian people are criminals”.

“The word ‘criminal’ is very prominent – even though it is struck through – and is likely to be the word that catches the eye of the reader in the first instance,” they said in November.

The bureau upheld this decision on Thursday, even after an independent review that it appointed recommended it reconsider.



“The complaint against the advertisement was made by only one person and there were no official complaints to the university,” the reviewer wrote.

The University of Sydney also appealed the finding, arguing that the ad did not depict a prison.

“The image used is an editorial image sourced from the United Nations refugee agency depicting the hands of children in detention holding a chain-link fence, and it is intended to provoke thought regarding the way society treats children in detention,” it said.

The campaign was launched last year to “communicate the university’s new undergraduate education model [of] questioning established beliefs”.

Other advertisements in the “unlearn” series included “unlearn love”, which showed two men getting married, “unlearn classroom”, which showed an airport departure lounge, and “unlearn threat”, which showed a person and a robot shaking hands.



Learn how to unlearn. See how we've changed the way we teach so our students can unlearn the world. #usydunlearn https://t.co/B6ihA4mKQd pic.twitter.com/SkHNOeJPpj — University of Sydney (@Sydney_Uni) September 4, 2017

The bureau decided in November that the prominence of the hands and “criminal”, and the fleeting nature of the ad, meant that the public would likely not grasp the ambiguity and complexity of the message in the short time they had to view it.

On Thursday, it stood by the ruling despite the independent reviewer’s recommendation.



As part of the review, the university submitted its own market research that 67% of 477 people surveyed were positive about the campaign. The reviewer believed this contradicted the bureau’s assumption that the crossing out of the word criminal “would create misinterpretation of the campaign’s meaning”.

However, the bureau found that the university’s survey focused on well-educated respondents and not the general public. It said that although the word criminal was struck out, “people viewing the advertisement fleetingly would be likely to only see the words ‘unlearn criminal’”.

On Thursday, the university said it was “disappointed” by the decision.

“The interpretation of the advertisement as discriminatory is not at all aligned with the values of our staff, students or alumni, nor the intent of the campaign,” it said.

Section 2.1 of the advertiser code of ethics prohibits advertisements that “discriminate against or vilify a person or section of the community on account of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, sexual preference, religion, disability, mental illness or political belief”.

In practice, discrimination is defined as “unfair or less-favourable treatment”, the independent reviewer said.

It was this definition that guided the bureau’s initial ruling last year.

“The meaning of the word ‘unlearn’ is ambiguous and the concept of the campaign is quite complex,” it said in November. “The overall impression of the advertisement, in the medium of an outdoor advertisement, would be likely to be often seen in quite a fleeting manner is ... likely to be taken as representing a stereotype of non-caucasian young people being held in gaol or other form of detention.



“This word and the image of dark-skinned hands behind a fence are the most impactful parts of the advertisement ... the overall impression of the advertisement is that non-Caucasian people are criminals.”

