Advertising Standards Canada administers these guidelines with respect to the representation of women and men in advertisements. The guidelines are part of the Canadian Code of Advertising Standards, which is the Canadian advertising industry’s principal instrument of self-regulation. There are six guidelines:

• Authority: Advertising should strive to provide an equal representation of women and men in roles of authority.
• Decisionmaking: Women and men should be portrayed equally as single decisionmakers for all purchases, including big-ticket items.
• Sexuality: Advertising should avoid the inappropriate use or exploitation of sexuality of both women and men.
• Violence: Neither sex should be portrayed as exerting domination over the other by means of overt or implied threats, or actual force.
• Diversity: Advertising should portray both women and men in the full spectrum of diversity and as equally competent in a wide range of activities both inside and outside the home.
• Language: Advertising should avoid language that misrepresents, offends, or excludes women or men.

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