The Hellbrunn Water Games, a famous tourist spot in Salzburg, including the Hellbrunn Palace and Trick Fountains, advertised a poster, which shows a painted water jet aiming directly between the open legs of a female dancer. People from Salzburg called this tasteless and sexist and made a complaint to the Austrian Advertising Council.
In its ruling the Austrian Advertising Council came to the decision that no sexualising content could be identified and that there was no violation of the code of ethics of the advertising industry. According to the Austrian Advertising Council, the design was clearly artistic in nature and no discriminatory design was discerned.
However, the advertising agency decided that it would not continue to use the criticized poster.
The Austrian Advertising Council is a self-regulating body for the Austrian advertising industry, which can only give recommendations and has no authority to issue binding decisions.
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