The University of Sydney has lost its appeal before the Advertising Standards Board over an advertisement depicting the hands of a person of colour clutching a wire fence with the copy line, ‘Unlearn criminal,” with ‘criminal’ struck-through. It was part of a student recruitment campaign presenting the university as teaching critical thinking to give students the skills to identify and rebut uninformed prejudice.

Late last year the ASB upheld a complaint that the advertisement breached the association of national advertiser’s code of ethics, concluding; “though the intent of the advertiser was in fact to challenge stereotypical assumptions regarding race, the particular emphasis of the word ‘criminal’ … in connection with the choice of image was unlikely to give that impression.” The board concluded the advertisement, “did depict material in a way which discriminates against a section of the community on account of ethnicity.’

The university appealed, arguing the purpose of the advertisement was clear and that it “advocates an approach to controversial subject matter that is non-discriminatory and open-minded.” It also presented the results of focus groups which understood the university’s intent. An independent reviewer also concluded the board should reconsider its finding.

However, in a split decision the board stuck to its original ruling that the advertisement was “discriminatory or vilifying” of brown skinned people.  The majority also argued, “the research did not take into account how the broader uninformed community may perceive the advertisement … as a billboard advertisement, the broad community would only have a fleeting view of the advertisement.”

Last night UniSydney stated, “we respectfully disagree with the decision, the interpretation of the advertisement as discriminatory is not at all aligned with the values of our staff, students or alumni, nor the intent of the campaign. Our market research showed that there was a strong understanding of the ‘unlearn’ concept and how it applies to the university’s new undergraduate curriculum, and 67 percent of our target audience groups reported feeling more positive about the university as a result of seeing the campaign.”