Danish toymaker Lego has been accused of promoting outdated gender stereotypes by showing a girl playing in pink room, and a boy playing in his blue room.
Sweden's Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising (ERK), has lambasted Lego for a recent catalogue that features the photos of the kids in their colour-coded rooms.
The girl's picture is captioned "Everything a princess could wish for..." and features a pony, a princess and a castle. On another page, a boy is pictured playing with a fire station, fire trucks, a police station, and an airplane with the caption "Tons of blocks for slightly older boys."
ERK has expressed concern that this type of portrayal promotes a stereotype that is degrading to boys and girls.
However, Lego has defended the catalogue, pointing out that other photos in the catalogue show boys and girls playing together.
The company said it didn’t believe the catalogue would be viewed as promoting stereotypes, insulting, or discriminatory.
The ERK backed its ruling by referring to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which says that advertising should be not be discriminatory when it comes to issues of gender.
Meanwhile, Ryanair has claimed ERK was out of touch with the "Britney Spears generation" after the agency accused the discount airline of running a sexist ad campaign.
The ad in question, which has resulted in a call to boycott from Swedish feminist politician Birgitta Ohlsson, features a scantily clad schoolgirl to promote a fare sale meant to coincide with the start of the school year.
According to ERK, the woman in the ad "is used to catch the eye in a sexual manner that is offensive to women in general".
Ryanair has questioned whether the ERK accurately reflected the views of most Swedes and said the ads simply reflect reality.
A spokesperson for Ryanair told the Swedish press that the airline received no complaints from campaigns run in the UK and Ireland which used the same image.