New London Mayor Sadiq Khan has forbidden “body shaming” advertisements on public transport in the capital, it was announced today.
‘Body shaming’ adverts involve, apparently, heavily photoshopped and shiny images of men and women in swimwear, which might make us normal folk feel bad.
Now I don’t know about you, but on the list of unpleasant experiences that one is confronted with daily on public transport, seeing some Ken doll male model in his smalls is pretty low down.
Nonetheless, nanny Khan has taken it up himself to protect the interest of commuters by telling us what we should and should not be exposed to – even if it means losing advertising revenue that could be used to upgrade the creaking network.
How would we cope with clapping eyes on a body in a bikini on the Circle Line as we go about our business?
Admirably, in fact. Last year one particular ad became a target of widespread ridicule for Londoners, with commuters flocking in their masses to creatively improve the – now infamous – Beach Body Ready campaign.
I committed an act of civil disobedience last week and it felt glorious @VagendaMagazine @EverydaySexism pic.twitter.com/4jl8vbnulU
— Miranda Fay Thomas (@mirandafay) April 22, 2015
This pleasure will now be denied to future generations of commuters, who now would never have seen the it in the first place.
@SnugglingonSofa I did this earlier today: pic.twitter.com/PDjiLiPXkJ
— Nicole (@NicoleBurstein) April 23, 2015
So as well as censoring our sensitive eyes on the commute, the mayoral office is now also censoring our fun.
Travelling on the Tube or the bus is repetitive, mundane and altogether quite depressing. Let us ogle at unattainable beach bodies if we want to.
