Passage of HB2811 to regulate ads with women as endorsers

Advertisements that degrade women, glorify sexual violence, and promote exploitation of women may soon be banned after the House of Representatives passed on third and final reading a measure regulating advertisements in various media.

Cebu City North District Rep. Raul del Mar, one of the authors of House Bill 2811, aims to penalize advertising agencies, television and radio stations, as well as publications which put on ads that are clearly offensive and further degrade women. 

According to del Mar, the main proponent of the bill is Rep. Glenda Ecleo of the lone district of Dinagat Island.

Del Mar said that under the bill, any person found guilty of violating provisions in the proposed act for the first time shall be fined not less than P50,000 but not more than P70,000 and a 30-day suspension of license or permit to operate.

For the second offense, an offender shall be fined not less than P70,000 but not more than P80,000 and slapped with a 60-day suspension of his license or permit. For the third and final offense, penalty shall be a fine of not less than P80,000 but not more than P100,000 and imprisonment of not less than six months or both plus the cancellation of his license or permit.

The solon said that if the offender is a firm, corporation, partnership or association, the penalty would be imposed on the owner, manager, president or the responsible officer of the ad agency, publication, television or radio station.

Under the bill, sexual exploitation is defined as “any portrayal or attitude of an individual or an object as sexually attractive or stimulating, and whose portrayal or attitude is aimed merely to excite the imagination and has no relevance to the goods or services being promoted.”

Sexual violence, on the other hand, is defined in the bill as “any prejudice, discrimination, harassment, or physical violence committed upon a person by another because of his or her gender or the perception that persons belonging to a particular gender are weak.”

It is also included in the bill that since advertising is a powerful tool used by aggressive entrepreneurs to draw the attention of the buying public, the measure is timely in that it gives the public the opportunity to decide whether or not to buy a product by relying solely on truthful representations. — Garry B. Lao/MEEV