London mayor bans ads that encourage an unhealthy body image on city's transit network

SJ.com and @Dick Whitman needed this today:

The young, thin model wore a bright yellow bikini and stared seductively at passers-by.

“Are you beach body ready?” asked the ad for Protein World, a maker ofdietary supplements. The ad was defaced in subway stations across London when it appeared in April 2015, and it drew strong protests.

On Monday, London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, announced a ban on such ads — which critics call “fat-shaming” — from London’s public transportation system starting in July, saying the messages encourage unhealthy body images for young women.

“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,” Mr. Khan said. “Nobody should feel pressurized, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies.”

The move is the latest effort by the authorities in Europe and elsewhere to address concerns about unrealistic or unhealthy body images in advertising, and the effect that impossibly thin models can have on the self-esteem and health of consumers. France, Israel, Italy and Spain have enacted policies aimed at preventing models with stick-thin bodies from working in the industry.

The mayor, who said he wanted to send a “clear message” to the advertising industry, said the new guidelines would apply to any form of transit run by Transport for London that could create body-confidence issues.

 

Related, the FDA has approved a new weight-loss treatment:

dlWASHINGTON —edl A new weight-loss device offers a novel approach to cutting calories: draining them from the stomach before they are fully digested.

The AspireAssist system consists of a thin tube implanted in the stomach, connecting to an outside port on the skin of the belly. About 20 minutes after finishing a meal, users connect the port to an external device, which drains some of the recently consumed food into the toilet.

Basically a food abortion.

 

But burqinis are now mandatory at British beaches.

 

Dick W in skinny jeans should be in all American Apparel Ads on CTA trains.

 

Obligatory: