12 December 2016
Hair, beauty and barbering might be a vibrant, creative and often “young” industry, but salons and barber shops need to be careful about portraying models, especially those aged under 18, in an overly sexualised way in advertising materials.
The warning by the NHBF has come as the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have launched a joint consultation into proposed tough new rules designed to make it an offence to “portray or represent anyone who is, or seems to be, under 18 in a sexual way”. The consultation on the new proposals runs until mid-January.
CAP already operates a code of conduct around body imagery responsibility, which encourages advertisers to consider issues such as whether a model appears too thin - to the point that their bones are visible - or whether the way they are posed, their clothing, make-up or the lighting exaggerates this impression. The Advertising Standards Authority also already has some powers to censure what it considers to be inappropriate and sexual images of 16- and 17-year-olds.
NHBF chief executive Hilary Hall said:
“We welcome this move, and we’d encourage salons and barbershops to just take a moment to think about how models for photoshoots or other marketing materials are coming across, especially if they look particularly young.”