IPA to prepare code of conduct on harassment

The move follows the leak of an email sent to The&Partnership staff in which a planner ranked female employees by their looks. 

IPA president Sarah Golding, chief executive of The&Partnership, led the discussion at the latest IPA Council meeting held during Advertising Week Europe, in which it was agreed that the industry body should prepare a template for a code of conduct. The template will define the meaning of objectification and give advice on acceptable behaviour at work.

Council members discussed what the IPA could do to "collectively put an end to any agency practice that seek to objectify men or women", according to the IPA.

The template will provide guidelines for agencies if there is no advice already.

Golding said: "Agency cultures are very different, and it is important they are different, but how you respect each other as colleagues should be the same. We are now gathering best practice examples and will be issuing this template in the next couple of weeks.”

The move follows the launch of timeTo, an initiative to tackle sexual harassment in the advertising and marketing industries, including an industry-wide sexual harassment study by advertising think tank Credos to understand the scale of the issue.