Sadiq Khan has an interesting plan.
Adverts promoting negative body images will be banned across the Transport for London (TfL) network from next month.
As part of his mayoral election manifesto Sadiq Khan pledged to ban adverts promoting “unhealthy or unrealistic” body images.
The advertising watchdog received 378 complaints in 2015 about a weight-loss advert that asked customers if they were “beach body ready?”
Mr Khan has now asked TfL to set up its own advertising steering group.
The ASA rejected the complaints.
The Protein World “beach body ready” promotional posters were defaced in Tube stations and a petition was started calling for the adverts to be banned, however the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) watchdog later ruled the advert depicting a bikini-clad female model was neither offensive nor irresponsible.
Being a Yank, I feel unease about setting up official bodies to manage advertising…but being a woman, I also feel unease about the drip drip drip effect of the way women are displayed in advertising, including the Protein World posters.
Mr Khan said: “As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end.”
Graeme Craig, TfL commercial development director, said: “Advertising on our network is unlike TV, online and print media.
“Our customers cannot simply switch off or turn a page if an advertisement offends or upsets them and we have a duty to ensure the copy we carry reflects that unique environment.”
Getting someone at Transport for London to take the issue seriously is better than having outsiders do it, I think – although I also hate it that London transport went private under Thatcher.
On the BBC London Facebook page many people were quick to praise the mayor’s initiative. Magdalena Michalik who lives in Greenwich said: “Please ban it. I don’t want my children to look at it!” but others warned it was the start of the “Islamification” of London and said the mayor was adopting this policy because of his religious values.
That’s the other tricky bit. I’ve seen reporting saying this is just Khan telling women to cover up.
Comments
14 responses to “Are you beach body ready?”
FWIW, I don’t see the problem with regulating advertising in public spaces owned and operated by the government. There are certainly some rules already in effect. This is just another rule, that can be debated on its own merits, without it becoming a freeze peach argument, IMHO.
I get both of your concerns. One thing that might help in the U.S., without running afoul of First Amendment concerns, would be forbidding the use of photoshopped images (at least, digital modification of the model herself–I’ve seen backs that were impossible in human beings without severe spinal injury or deformity held up as a beauty standard) in advertising like this, and also barring ads of this nature from featuring models who’ve had cosmetic surgery. Since they’re advertising their product, they should be able to show an image that a woman could actually reach using just their product–the idea would be that this is a truth-in-advertising modification, not a censorship issue.
It wouldn’t stop everything, of course, or even a majority. But it’d be a first step, and one that I think would be on pretty solid ground.
There was an article in a local paper a while back about why everyone hates hates hates that particular ad. I was actually with a friend in the Tube a while back and she got up from her seat and wrote on it.
1) have a body
2) go to the beach
Well, if it’s only free speech that worries people, regulate all the sexist Tube ads to show only men.
Want to yammer about perfect beach bodies? Men built like Usain Bolt in speedos. Want to push skin creams? Try to get Antonio Banderas to let you use his face. And so on.
It would be interesting.
My bet is that it’s the Khalif telling women to ‘cover up’, only time will tell whether or not it’s a stage in the Islamisation process.
The question is if the city of London should participate in the objectification of women for private profit or any other reason and the answer is no.
I think there’s a difference between *banning* an ad, from general use, and not selling certain types of ads in spaces belonging to the public. Public transportation ads are not magazine ads. An anorexic person can decide not to buy magazines on fashion and fitness, but should not be expected to avoid transit. So I think saying this is unacceptable is fine. It’s not censorship because there are many other places they can buy ad space.
These anti-women ads might be especially pernicious, but all (okay, plenty of) advertising works by inflaming our fears, insecurities, and shame.
@ 8 Ben
Anti-women?
(If it makes you feel any better they’re also anti-men.)
So does blogging about social justice.
(That’s not a criticism, just an observation. It’s called ‘persuasion’.)
Well that’s what I get for being a smartarse. I completely botched my link.
Unease about official bodies regulating advertising? Oh yeah, because self-regulation, aka a free-for-all, is *such* a good idea.
:“As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies.
Translation: “I’ve two teenage girls and I’ll do everything in my power to control them”.
So will he be taking down those underwear ads featuring David Beckam and his six-pack abs?
As someone with a slight paunch ( I love a good beer!), I find that those ads make me feel ashamed of my less-than-perfect bodeee.
You can sit on The Tube or on a bus and access just about any form of pornography in mere seconds…
Yep he’s doing it for the women.
The product in question is 99 44/100% certain to be fraudulent and harmful. Fast weight-loss schemes have NEVER been demonstrated to be safe and effective.
And isn’t it bizarre that the objectifying, commodifying, memes are identical regardless of the gender of the intended customer?
I wrote a pretty in depth look at the wider advertising industry and the changes that relate to body image.
I’ve found Unilever’s recent decision regarding stereotyping to be very interesting myself.