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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the are you beach body ready ads should not have been banned.

74 replies

RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:35

I believed up in till earlier today that the ads were awful but my colleague changed my mind.

He argument was that brands will always put a skinny model or beautiful person on their ads.

If that makes you self conscious then so would the skinny and beautiful people in real life.

I don't like the ads but I can't see why that ad caused such uproar when similar ads have been around for ages. I today saw an advert promoting milkshake with a topless man that said 'Aussies suck'.

I think we need to except that people naturally aspire to look a certain way.

OP posts:
Original poster
RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:39

Ps
I'm not thin or pretty Sad.

OP posts:
snowglobemouse · 18/05/2015 16:42

I'm confused by the whole thing. There was such an uproar over that ad but why that one specifically? there are hundreds of ads 'shaming' people for various things, why did this one get picked up on? Or was it more in your face?

Original poster
RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:42

AnyoneSmile

OP posts:
PtolemysNeedle · 18/05/2015 16:42

I agree they shouldn't have been banned, I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about despite having listend to the arguments against it.

Original poster
RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:44

I can't see the difference between it and hundreds of ads. The only thing I can see that separates this ad from others is the model has a particularly great figure.

OP posts:
fearandloathinginambridge · 18/05/2015 16:45

Can you link to an article which clearly states it has been 'banned'? I thought it had been pulled over dubious weight loss claims - which is an entirely legitimate reason to pull it IMHO ie they are lying to the public.

fearandloathinginambridge · 18/05/2015 16:48

Pressed send to soon! As I understood it the ad was pulled until those issues had been addressed and could return if they had been corrected. So, I am not sure it has (a) been fully banned or (b) been banned for portraying the woman as she is. Which is why I would like to see an article saying that this is the case - if indeed it is. And breathe!

TheBoov · 18/05/2015 16:49

They weren't banned. They came to the end of their booked run.
report

Original poster
RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:49

www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/29/beach-body-ready-ad-faces-formal-inquiry-as-campaign-sparks-outrage

It didn't market as a weight loss product though, more mucle product.

OP posts:
Original poster
RogerTheAlien · 18/05/2015 16:50

Correction: Was weight loss product (I thought protein was for muscle Confused).

OP posts:
LineRunner · 18/05/2015 16:54

The company pulled them at the end of the run.

I read in the national media that they didn't rerun them because they were reported for not being factually honest about the supposed weight loss properties.

The ASA takes a dim view of potential false claims, apparently.

DragonWithAGirlTattoo · 18/05/2015 16:55

Isn't more that people (lots of them from mn) wanted it banned as they thought it was demeaning?
ie they read "are you beach body ready" as "if you don't look like this then stay covered up and in your house you hippo "

Egged · 18/05/2015 16:55

No one banned them. The Advertising Standards body investigated dubious claims about the product aiding weight loss and had the ad withdrawn as a result if its findings - and not just that ad but other claims on the brand's site.

Lima1 · 18/05/2015 16:58

The article said it promoted an unhealthy body image- how?

LineRunner · 18/05/2015 16:58

Thank you Egged. That chimes with my understanding.

Lima1 · 18/05/2015 16:59

Can't edit, I meant to say the complaints were that it promoted an unhealthy body image

fearandloathinginambridge · 18/05/2015 17:04

That article doesn't say the ad was banned. It says it has been pulled for review. Whoever wrote the article has used the word 'banned' for reasons best known to themselves. It's misleading at best.

Still, don't let that minor factual detail get in the way of a good row.

Casimir · 18/05/2015 17:11

Controversy is always good for sales.

Flyinggeese21 · 18/05/2015 17:17

This is a mistake, they weren't banned.

LineRunner · 18/05/2015 17:21

Another thread based on Not The Facts. Sigh.

Pigriver · 18/05/2015 17:22

From what I can make it it was 'banned' due to the rate of weight loss claim and had nothing to do with the imagery.

LynetteScavo · 18/05/2015 17:27

I thought there was a load of hooh-har involving a comedienne who had an eating disorder and the company's response to her on twitter. She had an article about it in a newspaper and some MNetters jumped on the band wagon.
I didn't pay that much attention...but I think the company's twitter response was quite rude, iirc.

LineRunner · 18/05/2015 17:28

Yes, the company behaved like dicks.

But the ASA seem not to have liked the misleading weight loss claims.

SmillasSenseOfSnow · 18/05/2015 17:38

He argument was that brands will always put a skinny model or beautiful person on their ads.

If that makes you self conscious then so would the skinny and beautiful people in real life.

In the interest of untangling this particular issue for you, 'skinny and beautiful' people walking around in real life aren't implying the only way you are fit to go to the beach is if you look like them.

I think we need to except that people naturally aspire to look a certain way.

You seem to underestimate the role of the advertising industry in implementing and steering these trends.

LineRunner · 18/05/2015 17:41

So basically, OP, your original post is coming across as inaccurate and misleading.

A bit like the actual advert.

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