Spring is generally quite an optimistic time in London. The post-Christmas slump has worn off. The cold no longer stings your face and fingers and ears each time you step out the house. The grey city starts to look a little prettier, brighter, less concrete. And of course, summer is round the corner, and summer in London is wonderful. But there’s something of an ominous edge to spring, a hint of a threat, in that as the sun begins to come out of hiding and reveal itself, so too do our bodies. And, we women must take off our clothes, look in the mirror and ask ourselves, as Protein World so delicately put it in heavy, black capitals emblazoned across Tube platforms: ‘ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?’
Defaced Protein World tube posters went viral in April 2015, following criticisms that the original adverts were unrealistic and carried the implication that some body types were more desirable than others. The Advertising Standards Authority commanded the removal of the posters, and launched an investigation into the complaints surrounding the campaign. Last week, the ASA ruled that the adverts were both ‘unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence’ and not socially irresponsible.
The ASA focused largely on the slogan accompanying the image of the slim, toned, busty white female on these adverts, namely the phrase ‘beach body’. Protein World is definitely not the first advertiser to use the phrase ‘beach body’ or ‘bikini body’ – companies selling hair removal products, diets, gyms, moisturizers, swimwear, and so much more frequently market their wares using this phrase. But only, it ever seems, to women.
It’s pretty interesting to compare the different emotions the beauty, ‘wellness’ and cosmetics industries capitalize on to target men versus women. Advertisers seem set on selling more of a lifestyle to men – that of adventure sports, big houses, beautiful women and idolized sportsmen. It’s aspirational, empowering; this product will breathe excitement, money, success, sex into your life. The story for women is very different. Women’s products will not enhance our lifestyles, more so save us from the embarrassment and misery of the natural female body. The phrase ‘beach body’ and its usage in the Protein World adverts is a perfect example of this; the idea of a ‘beach body’ and being ‘beach body ready’ denotes public scrutiny of the female form and comparison to other female bodies that too are being publicly scrutinized. Do you really want to find yourself on Brighton beach on a Saturday afternoon in your soft, ugly body surrounded by women exponentially more beautiful than you, who prepared for this moment, who saw that Tube advert as they commuted to work in April, realized they weren’t perfect and actually did something about it? Protein World can save you from the guilt, humiliation and shame of not being up to scratch.
Other scenarios the advertising world tells women we must fear: that spontaneous moment at a party where everybody jumps in the pool, but we aren’t ‘bikini ready’ (Wilkinsons bikini trimmer), forgetting to shave and exposing unshaven body hair in public, worst of all to men (Veet’s ‘Dudeness’ campaign), wearing or doing anything on our periods (lest we bleed everywhere without the assistance of Tampax), anytime we have to physically move (Sure helpfully reminds us of how much we stink in day-to-day life) and getting cold sores (you’ll need to cover it up with a motorcycle helmet unless you buy Zovirax). That moment in so many adverts where the camera zooms into a model’s skin/hair to expose and magnify wrinkles, acne, dry skin or split ends doesn’t feel so much like an explanation of why a product works as an insinuation that imperfections which seem tiny to you, are gigantic to others.
Adverts seek to exploit insecurities – for men and women. They encourage us to think about what is wrong with or missing from our lives, and offer us a product as a solution. Yet there is a strong tendency in women’s adverts more so than in men’s to threaten us with inadequacy, shame and embarrassment. Can you imagine a Gillette commercial in which Tiger Woods forgets to shave his facial stubble before a big golf tournament, and subsequently suffers an emasculating humiliation and must flee from the public? Of course not. The world as imagined by advertisers is very different for men and women. In advertising world, women’s bodies are under a constant, unforgiving scrutiny, and failure to be a good girl who’s bought all the right products risks not only public humiliation and feelings of inadequacy amongst other women but a limited ability to carry on with her day-to-day life. The scenarios in women’s adverts which test us are spontaneous and random – kind of like when you’re at school, and the teacher surprises you with a quiz to check you’ve been listening, or when you’re going through security at a festival and only a few people have to unpack their rucksacks for inspection (basically, any situation in which a culture of fear and paranoia is being forcibly created to remind you to behave at all times).
We all choose how we present ourselves everyday, and altering personal appearances can be a great way of maintaining self-confidence and a fun mode of self-expression. The products that these companies are selling are not inherently evil, but making people feel rubbish about themselves so they invest in your multi-million pound business is.
The Protein World posters are not the only socially irresponsible, offensive adverts in the UK. They probably are not even the only socially irresponsible, offensive adverts just on the London Underground. When the ASA ruled that the posters were not malevolent in any way, it was probably in light of this, and the fact that if they condemned the Protein World adverts then they would have to condemn a hell of a lot of other adverts out there too. And then we wouldn’t have any tolerance at all for these messages, which pit women against one another, incite low self-esteem and high self-consciousness and capitalize on female insecurity. How terrible would that be?
Image by Kyle May
