Advertisements with obscene and derogatory content: The new norm in marketing?

While scrolling through various social media platforms, it has become very common for us to come across vulgar advertisements from different pages. Starting from racial abuse to blatant objectification of women, these posts can make anyone with a sound mind sick to the pit of their stomach.

For instance, an Uttara-based restaurant faced backlash some months ago and removed a post they had shared on their Facebook page relating the size and taste of their pizza to a certain private part of women. 

This is not the first time that they came under fire for such an act. A few months ago, they had to delete a post that made an indirect reference to the size of the male private part while advertising a discount offer on larger pizzas that they were offering.

A more recent example comes from the Facebook page of a restaurant known for their witty advertisements and high-quality food and service. 

It's beyond me why a restaurant like them would do something as vile as objectifying women in order to promote their cold coffee, which was already quite popular among the general public.

We may be ignorant about the impact of such advertisements on us because, as adults, we are fully capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. 

However, we must keep in mind that millions of children and teenagers with access to these social media platforms are also seeing these. Thus, a large portion of the new generation is being taught that it is acceptable to act in this manner—objectifying women, making racial jokes, and so on.

Even though most people find such advertisements offensive, as they should as reasonable human beings, these are on the rise, and this practice has increased more than ever during this pandemic. This begs the question, why do these businesses continue to create and promote advertisements like these?

When we approached Mohammad Daulat Al Rashid, a project manager at BRAC who formerly looked after a global B2B brand, for his comments, he said, "Objectifying any of the genders, titillating the not-so-fair sense of the audience, subtly using catchy words that are otherwise offensive or slang-ish – all these may help in creating a buzz. They are expressive and dynamic. You can get people to talk about your brand, share your posts, and comment on them."

But is it okay to grab attention at the expense of decency? Any litmus test of morality would reject the idea that end justifies the means.

"No socially responsible business ever promotes things that seemingly normalise obscenity, gender shaming, etc." Mr Daulat emphasised.
 
Given the prevalence of these distasteful advertisements, we were surprised to learn that our country has a strong legal framework in place to prevent their production and promotion.
 
Barrister Rifat Rahman, who is working as an associate at the Mahbub & Company, stated "As per the Indecent Advertisements Prohibition Act, 1963 (IAPA, 1963), an advertisement has been defined to include any notice circular or other document, displayed on any house, building, or wall, or published in any newspaper or periodical, and any announcement made orally or by any means of producing or transmitting light or sound." 
 
An advertisement is considered indecent if it is an incentive to sensuality and causes excitement of impure thoughts in the mind of an ordinary man of normal temperament and has the tendency to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influence. Such advertisements are deemed to be detrimental to public morals and may produce a pernicious effect, in depraving and debauching the minds of persons. 
 
"Clearly, the advertisements shared on social media by many social media-based business entities fall within the ambit of the Act as the advertisements are full of innuendo with indications towards sexual excitement and an attempt to materialise it to draw customers," Barrister Rifat noted. 
 
Any individual in contravention of the provision of this Act may be subjected to imprisonment which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both and for subsequent convictions, the punishment may extend to one-year imprisonment, or with fine, or with both.
 
This Act was introduced in 1963 when social media advertisements were non-existent but it defines advertisements to cover any publication by light or sound, which, if interpreted by the court, can extend to social media advertising contents.
 
Barrister Rifat further stated, "Some of the advertisements that I regularly see can also fall under the Digital Security Act, 2018, according to which, if any person or group willingly or knowingly publishes or broadcasts or causes to publish or broadcast anything in a website or any electronic format which hurts religious sentiment or values, to hurt or provoke the religious values or sentiments, then such act of the person shall be an offence."
 
If convicted, the offender shall be punished to a 5 years' imprisonment or Taka 10 lac fine or with both. Like the IAPA, 1963, subsequent offenders shall be punished with a 10 years' imprisonment or Taka 20 lac fine or with both. 
 
However, there is a big difference between having strict laws on paper and implementing them in practice. A law is only as effective as the extent to which it is put into practice to fulfil the main purpose for which it was drafted in the first place. 
 
The aforementioned Acts, like many other pieces of legislation in our country, have mostly remained on paper, with only a few instances of some of them being used for the right reason. 

They have been used so rarely in this context that the majority of the lawyers we interviewed (including some senior advocates) were unable to provide us with information on what laws are in place when we requested it. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that a large proportion of those who use these advertisements are unaware that they are engaging in illegal activities by doing so. 
 
Proper enforcement of these laws by our law enforcement agencies can thus limit the spread of these contents across the internet, particularly on various social media platforms, by not only informing those who are unaware of the existence of these laws but also by sending a loud and clear message to those who are engaging in this practice despite knowing it is illegal to refrain from doing so.