A UK Feminist group has issued a petition to make it illegal to advertise for plastic surgery procedures (like the ad above). Their reasoning is cited as "ads present a public health risk because they recklessly trivialize invasive surgical procedures; they undermine body confidence and their prevalence makes them impossible to avoid." (Huffington Post)
The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) monitors all advertising in the UK. They have recently put restrictions on fast food advertising during children's programs. They monitor any advertising that is seen in the public including print, television, radio, and just about everything else.
Currently the ASA:
- Prohibits advertising and promotion of tobacco products
- Bans misleading advertisements (recently including airbrushed cosmetic ads)
- Monitors validity of advertising for slimming diets, hair treatments, vitamins, beauty treatments, health food drinks and more
- Maintains a list of non-compliant advertisers that they consider dishonest HERE (offensive and not really work safe)
What do you think and would you be for or against regulations like this in the US?
Regardless of my personal feeling on non-medically necessary surgery and whether or not I would have it or want my children to have it, I say NO, IT SHOULD NOT BE ILLEGAL!
ReplyDeleteMy feelings are plain and simple, it's over the line on regulations/restrictions. Alcohol and tobacco use do have Public Health concerns (i.e. drunk driving related accidents, or second hand smoke links to cancer) but nothing impacts me if another person has plastic surgery. It's a completely self assumed for plastic surgery. Maybe that's the guideline that should be used; impact to others = higher level of regulation, impact to yourself, "buyer beware."
Addressing the whole premise of siting "known health risks" of surgery in the ad is certainly a fair argument but in that case, then it should be required for all products to include such information. For example, over consumption of Candy, Cookies, Chips, (all "junk food') is contributing to obesity in the US at alarming rates. I'd argue that health risks are equal to or greater than the use of alcohol and tobacco yet there are no warning labels or ad requirements indicating that over consumption of these items leads to obesity, which can cause diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.
To go even further, you'd have to say all advertising for amusement parks must have wording indicating you could die or become permanently disabled by riding any of the rides.
Additionally, auto dealer adds should lists all the risks of driving a car, and so on and so on.
Since the controversy seems to stem from this ad targeting teenage-ish girls the feminist group might be better served implementing programs or ads of their own that help those girls not feeling she needs boobies to give her self-esteem. (I'm thinking of all those ad launched where there are people laying in the streets outside a tobacco company and quoting statistics about tobacco usage. Just a thought.