It looks like companies looking to sell beauty or fitness products in London are going to have to solve a tricky riddle: How do they tell the customers they’ll look better after using their products without suggesting they need to look better?
Last year, a company called Protein World ran an ad in London’s Tube hawking its weight-loss collection and featuring a fit woman in a bikini with text asking, “Are you beach body ready?”
People were outraged at this blatant “body shaming.” A petition was circulated, the ads were vandalized, a protest was organized and the ads were pulled.
Now London has a new mayor, Sadiq Khan, looking to make a name for himself. This week, Khan decided that pulling that one ad was not enough. Now all “body shaming” ads will be banned in London’s public-transit system.
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