Mayor of London bans body image ads he deems unrealistic

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has decreed ads that promote "unhealthy or unrealistic" body shapes are no longer allowed on London Transport. The move, which will be enacted next month comes as a response to Protein World's infamous "Are you beach body ready," ad which received a paltry total of 378 complains in a city of eight and a half million, and which it must be noted, were ruled as being neither socially irresponsible nor offensive by the ASA.

According to the BBC, the Mayor has now asked Transport For London to set up its own advertising steering group. : "The deputy mayor for transport Val Shawcross said the policy was not meant as a "moral judgement", rather the mayor's office was working with the advertising industry to ensure images were not used that were potentially harmful to young people's mental health and how they viewed themselves."

So the lesson here is, if at first you don't succeed, elect someone in office to do your bidding. The outrage on both sides has already been cued, some praising the move, and others decrying free speech, which last time I checked, the UK doesn't really have. On a side note, this makes me wonder if tech giants helped get the mayor elected.

Regardless, Protein World should probably capitalize on the unexpected earned media by updating its now infamous "Grow Up Harriet," tweet to "Grow Up, Sadiq."