Religion and other value systems are certainly crucial in defining and sanctioning sex and decency. Moslem countries tend to frown upon all kinds of salacious displays and even indirect sexual references. Similar Christian standards operate in such countries as Ireland, South Africa, Mexico, and the Philippines. Other cultures may be considered rather tolerant in sexual matters (for example, French commercials on public television readily show live semi-nude models) but may prohibit any show of pubic hair (Japan), the promotion of contraceptives (France), or the lewd use of women (Scandinavia and the Netherlands) in advertisements. Values change, however. Thus, the spread of AIDS has reopened the issue of advertising condoms and other contraceptives in a totally different context, which transcends the older concerns about birth control and venereal-disease prevention.
The law usually parallels religious and moral standards.
There are often statutes dealing with public indecency (in Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom), the moral protection of minors, the restriction of violent displays (including sado-masochistic ones), and discriminatory job advertisements (particularly in Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Restrictions on the publication and circulation of "sexy" magazines of the Playbqy variety, with their usually more risque ads, also belong to this category (Argentina, Lebanon, South Africa, and Thailand). Reflecting concerns about "sexist" portrayals, a 1979 amendment to the 1972 Norwegian Marketing Control Law states: An advertiser and anyone who creates advertising matter shall ensure that the advertisement does not conflict with the inherent parity between the sexes, and that it does not i ...