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Sexist commercials to be banned in Rome: mayor

Xinhua, March 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino has said that commercials considered offensive to women will be banned soon in the Italian capital, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to a new regulation being enacted in these days, the woman's body "shall not be associated with images that equate it to an object or depict it in a sexist way," Marino said at a meeting earlier this week.

The new regulation also envisages the presence of a control body that will assess the message conveyed, Marino added.

"We have already had contact with the national agency that will act as impartial judge," the mayor was quoted by Rai State television as saying.

In Italy, so-called sexist commercials have often been at the center of scandals and debates in recent years.

At the end of 2014, authorities in Milan were forced to remove underwear billboards after residents complained that they were distracting for drivers thus jeopardized road safety.

The commercials featured Argentina-born model and presenter Belen Rodriguez posing seductively on a bed or seemingly taking off her underwear. Enditem