Despite initiatives in favour of equality, European advertising and the media continue to convey biased gendered representations. These are the findings of a report published on 5 March by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST). Entitled ‘Tackling harmful gendered content and gender stereotypes in advertising and the media in Europe: new challenges and opportunities’, the study analyses the scale of the phenomenon and the regulatory responses formulated by the Member States of the European Union.
There is a certain fragmentation of the legislative frameworks within the European Union. While some countries, such as Norway, Finland and Denmark, explicitly ban sexist advertising, others, such as France and Spain, include it in their laws on gender-based violence.
However, a majority of Member States still rely on self-regulation to combat such content, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
Regarding the growing scope of algorithmic advertising and influence marketing, the document shows that algorithms shape advertising content according to consumers’ perceived expectations, thereby reinforcing stereotypical representations of gender.
In fact, this logic means that certain sectors - such as finance and technology - are mainly aimed at men, while beauty and well-being products are mainly targeted at women. Ireland and Spain have already introduced specific regulations to govern these practices.
Given these findings, DG JUST recommends more proactive action by the EU.
The report, which is part of the EU Gender Equality Strategy (2020-2025), recommends reintegrating advertising and the media into the Goods and Services Directive, strengthening the obligations imposed by the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and introducing more binding self-regulation standards at the European level.
However, the report points out that the lack of a harmonised legislative framework limits the effectiveness of these measures and creates disparities in application between Member States. The future direction will therefore depend on the Commission’s political choices: either a more restrictive legislative approach or a consolidation of self-regulation standards, the results of which remain mixed today.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/fwg (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)