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Protesters target 'sexist' cosmetic surgery adverts
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter17 Feb 2009
COSMETIC surgery adverts on the Tube are being defaced by campaigners who oppose the "sexist" portrayal of women.
Posters featuring Clare Thornton, 27, showing her breast enlargement, have been plastered with abusive stickers over the past two weeks. The words "sexist s**t" were stuck next to a quote from Ms Thornton saying that going from a 34B to a 34DD was "the best decision I ever made!"
A 1,000-strong protest group on Facebook - called Somewhat Strident But Who Cares - features photos of vandalised Harley Medical Group adverts.
Cambridge graduate Nadia Kamil, 24, uploaded a shot of a poster at Latimer Road station, featuring a different model, with the words "Everyone is beautiful already" scrawled on it in red.
In the comment section Louise Rae wrote: "High fives to the anonymous vandal (not that I condone vandalism, of course - it's illegal)." Brendan Dodds, who works at Ernst & Young, added: "I'm happy to condone illegal vandalism when the victim is Harley Medical Group. They can go to hell."
The Facebook group has a link to a website from which slogans can be downloaded. The Strident group administrators say they do not condone vandalism.
Ms Thornton, an estate agent from Leeds, paid £4,250 for the operation with Harley Medical Group. She said: "I've got a thick skin and I'm proud of my new breasts but I've found this upsetting and rude. People should be allowed to choose what they spend their money on provided it's legal, and what they look like. Others shouldn't judge them."
The Harley Medical Group said the stickers were "offensive" and any that are found are removed.
Members of the Facebook group would not comment. But consultant plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge, a past president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said the ads risked "trivialising" major surgery and "should not prey on people's worries about body image".
London MEP Mary Honeyball, who is on the European Parliament's women's rights committee, criticised Transport for London for allowing ads that "seek to undermine women's confidence in their natural bodies. I am disgusted a government body is taking money to put up them up in view of vulnerable children and teenagers".
The Advertising Standards Authority says communications should be "prepared with a sense of responsibility to consumers and to society" and should encourage customers to take independent medical advice.
A Transport for London spokesperson said: “All adverts displayed on the London Underground must first comply with TfL's advertising guidelines, which endeavour to take account of our millions of daily passenger journeys and not to cause offence.
“CBS Outdoor, the company responsible for managing the advertising on the Tube, regularly seeks additional guidance on specific ads from the independent Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP). The advert in question was referred to the CAP before being carried.”
Reader views (23)
erm... i think that my sister made the right decision for her and i think that you should all stop being so judgemental, im sure if any of you were upset about your body you would consider plastic surgery too.
- Lucy Thornton, north yorkshire, scarborough, 26/11/2009 14:58
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These implants never feel real anyway
- Joe, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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The funny thing about the advert is that she looks about 18 in the "before" pic and in her forties in the "after" pic, so not sure who it would inspire to have plastic surgery.
- Dylan, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I doubt any of the protesters have a problem with this woman in particular, or her personal choices. Isn't it about whether such advertising is suitable for public spaces, normalising serious surgical procedures?
- Kath, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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That Lady is beautiful,and that is all that counts.
- David,Chertsey, Chertsey.UK., 26/11/2009 13:58
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Yet more stridently offensive, self-important nobodies trying to tell others how to live their lives. Sounds like Labour candidates in training for future elections.
- Rogan, Irving, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I feel sorry for girls I see on the tube lathering themselves with make-up. My girlfriend rarely wears any and she always looks hot. Have the confidence to ignore the advertisers... they're paid to mess with you mind
- Fluffy_Mike, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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What i find even more shocking are the "buy 2 proceedures get one free" adverts. Dr McGeorge asked us not to trivialise people's body issues but if "special offer surgery" does that for us!
- Alessia, london, 26/11/2009 13:58
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When I saw it, I thought it was cleverly pitched and styled...but still sexist, in that I don't want it suggested to me, at every turn, that my chest is the key to my happiness (and everyone else's).
- Karli, Tottenham, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I do not fing the advert sexist in the slightest although I think there is a lot wrong with a society that suggests women are better with Breast Implants.
Her "plastic" breasts look unnatural in the photograph when they are covered up. They will look even more unnatural when she removes her bra and they don't even move.
I think most men would be happier with a woman with natural 34B breasts than one with fake 34DD ones.
Real men prefer real women
- Andrew, London W1, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I feel that TFL has made a mistake by choosing to display these adverts on the tube.
If I see an advert on a website that affects me in a negative way, I may not return to that particular site.
But because these particular ads are displayed around escalators on the tube - there is no way to avoid. Also there is no targeting (but geo) on the tube, so anyone from small vulnerable girls to older women see these ads.
I would like to go to work without seeing these ads.
- Lena, Fulham, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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Quote: "How bizarre - what happened to free speech?"
Isn't that what the stickers are? Or do you think freedom of speech only applies to companies with the money to buy it?
Why do you think it's okay for companies to sell their products by attacking a woman's self-esteem through reiterating sexist ideals of what a woman should look like, but not for people to respond by saying that how they look is fine? What does this say about your views towards women?
- Louise, London, UK, 26/11/2009 13:58
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Probably targeted by a bunch of ugly women jealous of their more attractive counterparts.
- Tom, Watford (UK), 26/11/2009 13:58
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I think Ms Thornton looks great and by all acounts she seems to think so too. Good on you Clare! Really it is her own business and hers alone and I suspect this was done for Ms Thornton's benefit and none others. Do some people really think that they somehow have a right to criticise her or decide what she can or can't do within the remit of the law or how she spends her own money? Ghastly, bitter, judgemental people we can do without!
- Daniel, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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O dear, now pretty people are under attack from the ultra left, whats next, blondes?
- Nick Nack Paddy Mac, Kilburn, London UK, 26/11/2009 13:58
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She looked better beforehand, a better use of the money would be to get some help with accepting your own body.
- Liberal Thinker, UK, 26/11/2009 13:58
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Fake implants are not attractive. Ms Thornton must have been paid for the adverts as well so she is selling herself......
- Fiona, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I really thought feminists had grown out of this sort of sillyness -obviously have not. You do not have the right to dictate to other women what they do to their own bodies, to define to others what "beauty" is, or what the public is exposed to in advertising or otherwise.
- Jason Stone, Stratford, Newham, 26/11/2009 13:58
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I object to this kind of cosmetic surgery being free on the NHS. Not the kind for burns victims and so on.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 26/11/2009 13:58
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There was a time when students protested about worthwhile issues and concepts.
This is such a sign of the time of how shallow student bodies have become.
- Sandy, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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How bizarre - what happened to free speech? As far as I am aware these procedures are not illegal and people have the freedom to choose whether they resort to surgery in a bid to better portray themselves.
- Adam, London, 26/11/2009 13:58
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What you do to your body is your concern, go and live your own life.
- David, Chertsey.UK., 26/11/2009 13:58
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Of all the serious problems in the world they focus their energy on this rubbish? They should be ashamed of themselves.
- Sarah Bradshaw, Enfield, Middx, 26/11/2009 13:58
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