An ad for a Belgian casino at the heart of a sexist scandal!

In Belgium, this is the latest advertisement of the online gaming site, StarCasino.be , which causes controversy! Indeed, posted in many bus stops or train stations around the country, a woman poses in a bikini to encourage players to register on the online casino site. This is enough to arouse complaints to the Advertising Ethics Jury, which is the Belgian body that controls the rigor of advertisements in Belgium.

A stereotypical image of the woman

For a week now, the new ad of the online gambling company, StarCasino, has caused a scandal in Belgium. To put it simply, this poster campaign highlights a young woman, dressed in a simple bikini, accompanied by a simple word with dubious allusions: "Player".

After the registration of complaints, the body that regulates advertising in Belgium on behalf of the " loyalty, truthfulness and social responsibility ", quickly reacted. The JEP, or the Jury of Advertising Ethics, condemned in particular this advertising campaign considered sexist. The organization believes that the image of the woman is noticeably " reduced to the object of desire ».

Indeed, we will not fail to highlight the seductive attitude of this young woman present on the poster, not to mention the mention "Player", which is nothing more than a sexual allusion or even a reference to the reality TV show "The Island of Temptation", for the JEP.

Towards a modification of the advertisement?

As a result, the Jury of Advertising Experts seized the case to request a modification of this display campaign, in the event that the advertiser decided not to delete it permanently. Moreover, this scandal, relayed by the entire Belgian press, also caused the citizens of the country to react, who hastened to tag the billboards, or to modify the poster by covering the body of the young woman in photo. Moreover, activists fighting against sexism in society, did not hesitate to write their slogan on one of the advertisements: " Sexism Game Over ", or in French, "Sexism, the game is over".

For its part, the online casino company, decided to support the young woman photographed, but also, their advertising campaign, by asking Internet users to share their poster on the social network Facebook. While waiting for the outcome of this controversy, it should still be noted that other casino advertising campaigns had already been judged sexist, before.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the sexist advertisement of a casino has been pointed out

This was particularly the case of the Montreal Casino in 2006, when the company unveiled an advertisement filled with clichés, in the American magazine The Improper Bostonian . Through a kind of comic strip, part of this commercial for the Canadian casino clearly shows a young woman and a man playing blackjack. This drawn female character, highlights her chest by being accompanied by a bubble where the phrase " Nice Pair ».

Without bringing you a translation, it is obvious that sexual allusions are also present in this advertisement for the Casino de Montréal. While the Loto-Québec organization had offered its apologies, it is still time to ask what the different advertising campaigns of certain casinos, terrestrial and online, rhyme with. Everywhere, it seems that it is possible to see a link between the woman's body, seduction and play. In this universe, it is high time to banish a frequently widespread sexism!