Complaints for Sexist Advertising Rise in Germany

Complaints about sexist advertising have increased 30% compared to the previous year, according to the German Advertising Standards Council’s half-year figures.

The number of cases regarding gender-discriminatory and sexist advertising increased from 73 in 2024 to 96, noting that in the first half of 2024, this area had considerably shrunk.

The Advertising Council was able to stop 14 campaigns and get one significantly altered. In the other 50 cases, no violation was found.

Overall, the Advertising Council issued three reprimands – all three due to sexist advertising.

A total of 302 individual complaints, encompassing those outside of sexism claims as well, were submitted to the Advertising Council in the first half of the year. These resulted in 196 cases that the council had to decide on – an increase of around 8%.

The enforcement rate of the Advertising Council remains at 92%.

The ethics and morality category accounts for the second-highest number of complaints, with 22 cases, followed by discrimination against groups of people, with 16 cases.

The increase in complaints shows the importance of a self-regulatory body of the advertising industry, said Thomas Hinderer, chairman of the German Advertising Standards Council. “The Advertising Council takes decisive action, especially in the area of gender-discriminatory advertising. Although the number of these cases has increased again compared to the previous year, the reprimands of recent months demonstrate that the Advertising Council clearly sets boundaries in this sensitive area and does not tolerate violations.”

The German Advertising Standards Council issued reprimands to two companies in May for sexist and discriminatory advertising. The companies affected were Berlin-based PEKEAG GmbH, which displayed women dressed lightly without relevance to the service on their website, and Ulbricht Plumbing from Großenhain (Saxony), whose vehicle advertising was ruled to have sexualised and demeaned women.

The third reprimand was now issued to the company RiTec from the Schleswig-Holstein region. The company advertises on a vehicle with an image of a female body part dressed in a bikini and the slogan ‘All in the Best Shape.’​

According to the Advertising Council, the woman shown is reduced to her sexual appeal and demeaned in her presentation. The image is limited to selected body parts of the woman, reducing her to this and turning her into merely a visual attraction. The slogan is deliberately ambiguous and also alludes to the body of the depicted person. The fact that the woman’s head is not visible further reinforces objectification. The company was not willing to change the depiction. Therefore, the panel decided on a reprimand.