ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sex toy start-up Biird today launches a Change.org petition calling for the end of sexual wellness censorship and gender inequality on social media.
Supported by advertising and sextech giant Cindy Gallop and sexual wellness experts Dr Logan Levkoff and the Center for Intimacy Justice, the petition calls on Facebook to change its policies to allow the promotion of sexual wellness information and products to appropriately aged adults, in a similar way alcohol brands target specific age groups.
To help educate policy makers and enforcers, Biird created an educational hub highlighting the importance of sexual wellness information and the issues that arise from censorship.
Facebook states "Adverts must not promote the sale or use of adult products or services, unless they promote family planning and contraception"*. A broad rule open to interpretation. Condoms and erectile dysfunction products fall within this category and are often promoted while female wellness products like vibrators which promote sexual health are banned.
Evi, Biird Co-founder, said:
"We know the restrictions our industry faces but that doesn't mean we accept them. This petition and hub highlight how favouring male products like viagra is not only wrong, but also impacts the industry and its ability to grow, all while preventing access to educational content on female sexual issues. We are asking all sexual wellness companies to join us and show their support. Sign the petition and demand Facebook equal the playing field."
The rules also cause funding issues for female wellness start-ups.
Cindy Gallop, advertising expert, and founder and CEO of Make Love, Not Porn said:
"Advertising platforms are shooting themselves in the foot with gender-biased sextech bans. The ability for female-founded sexual health and wellness brands to advertise and therefore to scale, unlocks the ability to raise serious funding from venture capitalists and investors in search of unicorns, which in turn guarantees serious revenue for those platforms. There's a huge amount of money to be made out of taking women seriously - especially when it comes to sex."
Sign Biird's sexual wellness petition here and view the educational hub here.
Sources:
*https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/adult_products_or_services
Petition: https://www.change.org/p/social-media-end-sexual-wellness-censorship-on-social-media-platforms
Educational-hub: https://www.biird.co/pages/educational-hub-sexual-wellness
Media kit (including French images): http://www.biird.co/obii-mediakit
Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1317778/Biird_Campaign.jpg
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