If you use the New York City transit system, you may have encountered these Protein World weight loss ads:
The ad shows a slim woman in a bikini asking commuters if they are "beach body ready."
These same exact ads were in the U.K. about a month ago, but Londoners protested the campaign by writing over and changing the ads with their own body-positive messages.
#ProteinWorld - The New Way to Fight #SocialMedia Critics? http://t.co/wF5TcobJUf #advertising #branding
The ads so outraged people in the U.K. that they started a campaign on Change.org and successfully had the ads banned.
You're god damn right @Catstello and I are beach body ready. No help needed, we're #alreadyperfect. #bodypositive
More U.K. reactions:
And I saw a defaced 'Beach Body' ad in the wild! #eachbodysready
Absolutely brilliant! #beachbodyready (via @benrevens) @RossalynWarren @VagendaMagazine
.@EmmaBurnell_ @ProteinWorld @RossalynWarren Up in arms - what a shocker of a campaign. Seeing this made me feel glad
Richard Staveley, the head of global marketing at Protein World, said that the New York advertisements are "a big middle finger to everybody who bothered to sign that stupid petition in the U.K."
Staveley also said that he felt the reactions to the ad were "fantastic."
The response to this controversial ad has been "fantastic", says the marketing boss of the company behind it http://t.co/NMjL5RZ6Gu
He retweeted this:
Good lad. Go @stavers002 Beach ready? Most are body-bag ready.
And retweeted this:
@stavers002 @cat_oakley @She_LarissaS Nice interview on @SkyNews @EamonnHolmes Richard....
The model herself tweeted a picture of the one in Times Square:
What's up Times Square 👋🏼 @ProteinWorld
But! Now New Yorkers are starting to react.
London had a strong response to this @ProtienW campaign,what are we going to say NY Feminists? #areyoubeachbodyready
An ad in Union Square Station has a sticker placed over the model's mouth that reads "This oppresses women."
And some New Yorkers on Twitter are not happy.
.@ProteinWorld has crossed the Atlantic, #beachbodyready apocalypse?
#beachbodyready ad by @proteinworld banned in the UK shines in @nycsubway & nobody cares? @guardian
How will New York react?
@VagendaMagazine @cait_gc I went one further: