Billboards advertising longer lasting sex have been banned around Australia after continued pressure from Greater Dandenong residents.By Shaun Inguanzo
BILLBOARDS advertising ‘longer lasting sex’ have been banned in Greater Dandenong – and the rest of Australia – after the Advertising Standards Bureau bowed to community pressure.
And the council has sent a clear warning to billboard owners that it will pull down the billboards if other sexually-explicit advertising continues to appear.
It comes after Star has carried several reports in the past two years voicing residents’ concerns that the billboards are offensive and inappropriate for young children to view.
The City of Greater Dandenong council met with the Advertising Standards Bureau in May to strongly oppose sexually explicit billboards, specifically the Longer Lasting Sex type that featured on the billboard at the eastern end of Lonsdale Street.
Greater Dandenong’s planning and design manager Jody Bosman said it was a victory for the council and for residents.
“As a council we received a number of complaints from residents about the offensive nature of these billboards,” Mr Bosman said.“
“The introduction of this blanket ban shows that if enough people voice their concerns, policy can and will be changed.”
Bureau CEO Alison Abernethy said the board had dismissed complaints in February 2007 but after continued pressure changed its mind this week.
“Over the past 18 months the Advertising Standards Bureau has received continued complaints about the ‘Want longer lasting sex’ Advanced Medical Institute billboard,” she said.
“The board acknowledged that in the time since the original decision, debate in the community about the sexualisation of children has crystallised community concern about the unsolicited exposure of children to advertisements dealing with sexuality.”
“The board noted that when it previously considered the advertisement, it was identified as being at the upper limit of what the community considered acceptable and, with the shift in community standards, the content of the billboard was no longer acceptable.”
Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades, who has long opposed the advertising, welcomed the outcome.
“It is also a victory for the community who stood behind what they believed in,” she said.
“The residents of Greater Dandenong told us they found these billboards offensive and they deserve this positive outcome.”
But the ban does not account for other sex advertising in the City of Greater Dandenong, including three large billboards advertising a range of sex services and products near the Foster Street rail underpass.
Mr Bosman and Cr Blades both said the council had made it clear to the bureau that it would tear down billboards if they continued to carry sexually explicit advertising.
