© Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFEIranian women wearing hijab
The ministry sent a letter to agencies over the weekend following the release of a promotional video by the Domino ice-cream company that featured an actress wearing a sweater donning additional layers of clothing while images of ice cream flash across the screen.
At the end of the ad, she is wearing a winter coat and hat and takes a bite of the ice cream.
A government agency subsequently called the ad "a crime" and condemned the use of an actress saying such ads lead to the "promotion of immorality" in the society.
The move comes as authorities increasingly crack down on women deemed to be in violation of a law making it mandatory to wear a hijab in public.
A July 5 order by President Ebrahim Raisi to enforce the hijab law has resulted in a new list of restrictions on how women can dress. The country's notorious Guidance Patrols, or morality police, have become increasingly active and violent in enforcing the law, with videos emerging on social media showing officers detaining women, forcing them into vans, and whisking them away.
Since Raisi's order, women judged not to be in compliance have been told they will be barred from government offices, banks, and public transportation.
In response, activists have launched a social media campaign under the hashtag #no2hijab to urge people to boycott companies enforcing the tougher restrictions.
Comment:
On July 12, women's rights activists posted videos of themselves publicly removing their veils to coincide with the government's National Day of Hijab and Chastity.
The hijab first became compulsory in public for Iranian women and girls over the age of 9 after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Many Iranian women have flouted the rule over the years in protest and pushed the boundaries of what officials say is acceptable clothing.
Iranian authorities have increasingly cracked down on women deemed to be in violation of a law making it mandatory to wear a hijab in public.
Reader Comments
It we want a good healthy society, surely the advertising industry is not the sort of industry we should venerate. Fundamentally it is a lying industry. It puts at the heart of all modern global society a temple of lies that are diseminated around the entire globe. The US cigarette advertising industry and the Bernays Purblic Relations companies of the early 20th Century have - over time - somehow stripped us of common sense and a sense of common good and morality to each other. Now we don't love our neighbour, we venerate the product and those enormous corporations of lies, lie and more lies. We know this but somehow we have come to accept it as the norm. The trouble is, as mere mortals, we can't stop juggernaut corruption on this level. I think it's remarkably healthy when issues like this ARE DISCUSSED at a high level in any country. Bring it on. This is not an anti-female issue but an anti lying and false representation issue.