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The ad, which was sent to B. Sabatauskaite by a Facebook user, shows a man clutching a woman’s breast, and the post next to it said: You will always turn around here, a beautiful woman or a good wife.
After evaluating the advertising, the Ombudsman initiated an investigation for discrimination on his own initiative.
Representatives of UAB Botsana, which runs Bardakas bar, withdrew the ad as soon as they received a request from the Office of the Ombudsman for Equal Opportunities. They explained that the post did not seek to humiliate anything and they were sorry if someone insulted someone. According to them, the ad wanted to cleverly remind that the bar is waiting for customers. This post features a photo taken at the bar a few years ago, and the posers agreed that his image would be used for commercial purposes.
In accordance with the Law of Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, the service provider must ensure in the advertising of its services that this information does not amount to humiliation, contempt, restriction of rights or the granting of benefits based on the gender of the person. . This law also prohibits the formation of social attitudes that one sex is superior to another.
Council of Europe and European Parliament resolutions state that advertising must respect human dignity and must not degrade or humiliate a person because of their sex.
The humiliation of women is often expressed by portraying them as an object or merchandise that promotes sales. In discriminatory advertisements, they are repressed, which can have a direct impact on the formation of disrespectful and unequal stereotypes about the role of women.
In Bardak’s ad (a post on a social network is legally considered an ad), a woman is presented as an item that can be won even with her eyes closed. A woman is defined precisely through her chest, which is grasped by a man. In this context, a man is described as having the power to touch a woman’s body whenever and however he wants. It is the consumer on whom the situation depends, and the woman is the prize that can be won.
“It is important that the people who posted the post quickly remove inappropriate content from their Facebook account. Still, ads that disparage one or another group of people have a very significant impact on the formation of negative attitudes. And those ads that present women as a commodity or object are still all too common. The law obliges you to respect human dignity and not degrade a person because of their gender, ”he says.
