A gambling company wanted young men’s attention, so it put sport, betting and a nearly naked woman in the same ad and assumed they’d come running.

Sarah Styles, a board director of the Victorian Institute of Sport and former head of the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, and our CEO Ben Vasiliou wrote for Women’s Agenda about what Novig’s campaign teaches boys.

Every week in schools we ask boys to see girls and women as whole people. That’s hard enough without industries outside the school gate making a fortune selling them the opposite.

The ad sells men short too. Women’s sport in Australia has grown with plenty of men in its corner, from club coaches to the dads driving their daughters to Saturday games.

Sport is one of the best places for boys to find belonging. Men and boys should expect better from the brands paying to be part of it.

Read the full article here