Transgender advocacy groups have slammed a ruling by the advertising regulator on a controversial Libra tampon ad as like "spitting in the face" of those trying to stop violence against transgender people.
General Manager of the National LGBT Health Alliance, Warren Talbot, told ninemsn the ad, which aired in cinemas and online earlier this month, could incite prejudice against the transgender community.
The ad depicts a drag queen and a blonde woman standing side-by-side in a nightclub bathroom putting on mascara and lip gloss, and adjusting their bras competitively.
The blonde woman then pulls out her Libra tampon, leaving the drag queen to storm out of the toilets in a huff.
The ad was heavily criticised for suggesting that transgender women were not 'real women' because they did not menstruate.
"The difficulty is that it does not distinguish between drag queens and transgender women," Mr Talbot told ninemsn.
"It's certainly unhelpful and potentially fuels ignorant and uninformed views."
Sally Goldner, a spokesperson for Transgender Victoria, was angry at the Advertising Standards Bureau's ruling and told ninemsn the setting of the ad is "disturbing".
"A big issue we face is violence in toilets because we don't meet people's expectations … and [the Advertising Standards Bureau] are effectively spitting in the face of people trying to stop violence against transgender people," she said.
The bureau ruled the ad "does not demean women who do not menstruate, nor does it demean or vilify transgender people and does not vilify men who dress as woman."
The board also noted in its judgement that the ad "features a man dressed as a woman in a female bathroom environment, however there is no way of determining whether they are representative of drag queens or transgender women."
However, despite the uncertainty the Board found the "advertisement did not discriminate against or vilify any section of the Community."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups have openly questioned the board's expertise on transgender issues and pointed out that if the board was unable to say if the ad featured a drag queen or woman then members of the public could also make false assumptions and draw incorrect conclusions from the ad.
"It wasn't clear to me and I'm sure to the average member of the general public it would not be clear," Mr Talbot said.
"From the point of view of the advertiser that argument simply doesn’t wash."
Transgender Victoria complained about advertisers' continual pleas of ignorance after they have caused offence and said the entire episode is emblematic of the misunderstanding of transgender issues.
"We think the ad standards gang are very ineffective and they have never understood transgender issues," Ms Goldner said.
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