VU KHF Department of Lithuanian Philology organised a seminar “Discriminatory Advertising: Lithuanian and Foreign Examples, Legal Regulation, Good Practice”. The seminar was held in Jablonskis auditorium on January 18 by Valdas Dambrava, the Adviser for Public Relations at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman who had been working there since 2004. He gave a number of practical examples related with the requirements of equal rights, exposing the advertisements that may discriminate one social group or another.
The students were glad to hear the professional’s view on how the advertisement should be constructed so that they would reflect the principles of communication theory and would not infringe consumers’ rights and laws. It was useful for future specialists of advertising to gain knowledge on how proper advertisements should not look like.
According to the lecturers who participated in the seminar, the greatest advantage was its non-academic form since it caught students’ attention. The lecturers were glad that Valdas Dambrava highlighted such advertising nuances which in most cases would be left unnoticed by the editor. The speaker looked at advertisements from the consumers’ perspective. Furthermore, the listeners were surprised to hear that consumers react to advertisements actively, see discrimination in them, apply to the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman and make complaints.
At the participants’ request, the second part of the seminar is going to be held in spring.