‘Beach body ready’ advert investigated
THE advertising watchdog has launched a formal investigation into the “beach body ready” campaign and banned it from appearing again in its c u r r e nt for m, it has announced.
The Advertising Standards Author it y s aid it had launched an investigation to establish if the ad for Protein World breaks harm and offence rules or is socially irresponsible.
It said: “We have met with Protein World to discuss its ‘Are you beach body ready?’ ad campaign. It is coming down in the next three days and, due to our concerns about a range of health and weight-loss claims made in the ad, it cannot appear again in its current form.
“Although the ad will not appear in the meantime, we have launched an investigation to establish if it breaks harm and offence rules or is socially irresponsible. We will explore complaints that have prompted concerns around body confidence and publish our findings.”
Many of the posters, which appear in London Underground stations, have been defaced and a petition calling for their removal has gathered tens of thousands of signatures. The ASA said it received 360 complaints about the campaign, which promotes protein shakes.
Protein World’s Richard Staveley told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that the tag “beach body ready” was asking women if they had obtained their goals. He revealed that the company had received a bomb threat following the launch of the ad.
He denied the image of the model had been altered, saying: “Our aspirations are to make the nation healthier, to ask each one of us to set our sights higher, to be fitter, to be healthier.”