Sex sells.  We know this.  The advertising people around the world have made an industry out of using scantily-clad women (and to a lesser extent men) to sell everything from spark plugs and tractors to consumer electronics.

But now the European Union wants all that to end:

MEPs want TV regulators in the EU to set guidelines which would see the end of anything deemed to portray women as sex objects or reinforce gender stereotypes.

This could potentially mean an end to attractive women advertising perfume, housewives in the kitchen or men doing DIY.

Such classic adverts as the Diet Coke commercial featuring the bare-chested builder, or Wonderbra’s “Hello Boys” featuring model Eva Herzigova would have been banned.

The new rules come in a report by the EU’s women’s rights committee.

Does it make me happy that advertising which appeals to our basest, lustful instincts is so effective?  Not particularly.  But there’s no doubt that it does work, and to deny advertisers the freedom to use it seems rather stupid.

I have a feeling that if it were a Christian group in Europe demanding that racy advertising be regulated out of existence in the name of moral decency they wouldn’t be listening.  But banning such advertising in the name of political correctness?  They’re right on board with that.

I don’t particularly enjoy the idea of walking with my daughters down a sidewalk that is bracketed with racy advertising featuring half-naked models, but I enjoy even less the idea of the government using racy advertising to use racy advertising as an excuse to exert further control over the media.  Which includes advertising.