Stockholm bans ‘sexist and racist’ advertising

Stockholm’s city council has voted to ban adverts
deemed sexist or racist from public billboards in the
Swedish capital.

Under the new law, due to come into effect within a month,
authorities can remove any material which presents women or men as
sex objects or shows a stereotypical image of gender roles.

Green Party deputy mayor and architect of the legislation,
Daniel Hellden, said he hoped city authorities would not need to
enforce the law.

“Maybe the companies won’t put up ads which are sexist or
objectifying if they know we’re going to remove them after 24
hours,” he said. “So, if it’s working well, we won’t have to use
this legislation.”

But the law has come under fire from the Association of Swedish
Advertisers, which fears a ban will increase red tape and curb
freedom of expression, the BBC reports.

Its chief executive, Anders Ericson, argues that despite
complaints from what he describes as “a really strong group of
feminists”, Sweden is already doing “a really terrific job” in
self-regulation.

Sweden is regularly ranked near the top of global gender
equality indexes, but a 2016 study by the non-partisan Swedish
Women’s Lobby labelled it the “worst Nordic country” at tackling
sexism in advertising, The Local reports.