Paris voted to ban 'sexist and discriminatory' outdoor ads

The Council of Paris - the assembly responsible for governing the city - voted on Tuesday for a new contract for outdoor advertising in the French capital, which includes a ban on any "sexist and discriminatory" ads appearing across the city.

• Sexist stereotypes
• Homophobic images
• Any degrading, dehumanizing, or offensive representations of women and men
• Ethnic discrimination
• Discrimination of nationalities
• Religious discrimination
• Ageist images
• Images that adversely affect human dignity

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a press release (translated from French): "After London and Geneva, which already put in place similar measures, Paris is showing the way by taking all possible actions to prevent the distribution and promotion of images degrading to certain categories of citizens."

During Paris Fashion Week, the capital's outdoor advertising sites because the center of attention over a series of "porno chic" ads from fashion brand Saint Laurent that showed underweight models in fishnet stockings. The French advertising watchdog, Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité, said it had received more than 200 complaints about the campaign and made the fashion brand take down its ads.