London mayor wants to stop running ads that promote unrealistic body expectations and demean women
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has moved to ban from the city’s transport network adverts that promote unrealistic expectations about body image and health.
Khan, elected in May, has told Transport for London to stop running body-shaming ads amid concerns that the advertising “can demean people, particularly women”.
He had pledged to tackle advertising on the tube network during his campaign after ads such as the “Beach body ready” campaign last April led to protests. An online petition calling for their removal attracted more than 70,000 signatures.
The company behind the ads, Protein World, was accused of “directly targeting individuals, aiming to make them feel physically inferior to the unrealistic body image of the bronzed model, in order to sell their product”.
It was not banned by the Advertising Standards Authority despite more than 200 complaints.
