Advertising feeds systematically collective representations that define mass culture. If the visibility of certain forms of advertising due in part to the free consumer acceptance, it is impossible to escape some poster campaigns. The degree of legal regulation of advertising varies according to the media. In France, television advertisements are subject to validation of an institution but the newspaper ads are at the discretion of the editors. As for the poster campaigns, they are under the control of mayors, who are not able to exercise a genuine form of coercion. Internet advertising is virtually free of legal or ethical. Furthermore, it is difficult to establish the responsibility of the advertising discourse: Advertisers order and pay for the advertising, agencies make and produce these messages, the media or the broadcast media.
This dilution of responsibility promotes a lack of regulation that is due also and especially by ideological reasons. In theory, advertising is caught between a sense of social responsibility that is its ubiquity and a commercial incentive for sale. The latter always prevails in democratic societies [1] when advertising hides behind the protection of freedom of expression or artistic creation, and of course freedom of enterprise. All legal documents relating to advertising begin by recalling that the principle of freedom inspires the rule and concluded not to censor but to punish only manifest abuses [2]. When there is a regulation [3] which governs the principle of free competition into force in advertising, it is limited in the use of the female body, to prohibit the direct cause sexual excitement to precipitate the purchase, which amounts only to reaffirm the ban on racollage.
It is assumed that advertising censorship should be exercised spontaneously and it is desirable to let the professionals responsible for their behavior vis-à-vis the public. ProShape Rx Advertisers [4] argue that they have a code of ethics preventing any offensive representation of the female body or incompatible with the dignity of women. [5] This code of ethics is complemented by a process of internal regulation provided by the Office of Audits of Advertising [6] (BVP) which makes recommendations to outlaw “sexual discrimination, degrading the speech, the instrumentalization of the body or the ‘female identity, the suggestion of female inferiority. ” But this BVP has a limited role as only TV commercials need validation, other advertising media are free to make its opinion of BVP and comply with [7]. In theory, the BVP may also be requested by individuals, but it has a low visibility can thus play a significant role in the capture of a disapproval or a request for public accountability. Unlike other professions [8], advertisers are hostile to the establishment of an institution recognized by law and are satisfied with a purely preventive and consultative option [9]. There is in France or mandatory referral of a validation committee ads, no power of sanction. As for the quotas of certain advertisements, there is no regulatory constraint except by the CSA does, again, the ads on television.
In summary, in France as in most democratic societies, the absence of regulatory sanction by law on the one hand, and the purely preventive recommendations of an internal organ on the other hand, do not condemn the discriminatory representations and sexist. In addition, the relative interests of accountability of advertising is more inspired by respect for morality and public order as the protection of individuals and respect for the dignity and identity of each. Advertisers are convinced that the peculiarities of their profession justify humor, provocation and exploration of thresholds. And as they contend that they evolve according to the times, they evaluate their work based on a degree of acceptability and not on any objective limits [10]. They point out that advertising really insulting should turn against the product it is supposed to sell. Advertising that exceeds the threshold of social acceptability is subject to its failure, which is back on advertising in its sole economic logic: advertising is sanctioned by the consumer and market constraints are sufficient to self-regulate.
