Government Has No Business Shutting Advertisers Up To Protect Girls' Feelings
This particular speech squashing move comes from the UK, where increasingly, speech is becoming unfree -- as it is on college campuses across America.
In the UK, the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced that public transport would no longer run ads like this one below, which, as the article in the Standard/UK by Pippa Crerar reports, are deemed to possibly cause "body confidence issues, particularly among young people."
The Mayor, a father of two teenage daughters, warned the ads could "demean" women and encourage them to conform to unrealistic or unhealthy body shapes.
What I want to know is why this body shape is "unrealistic"? Women who look like this exist, and frankly, more women would look like this but for how the government-advised, scientifically bankrupt high-carb, low-fat diet plumped them all up.
This seems to be yet another case of a politician wanting to be seen as doing something -- something wonderfully politically correct -- while really changing society not an iota.
Is he also going to send cops through the train to yank Vogue and other magazines out of girls' hands? Is he -- Muslim mayor that he is -- going to require beautiful women to go around in burkas, lest less beautiful women feel bad about their looks? And what of smart women? Is he going to make them take stupid drugs so women of lesser intelligence won't feel so dim?
(Harrison Bergeron, please call your office.)
would no longer run ads like this one below, which . . . are deemed to possibly cause "body confidence issues, particularly among young people."
Imagine the body confidence issues this would cause among young male people, like "I'm not confident at all that I'll ever be able to even get to first base with a woman who has a body like that."
JD at June 13, 2016 11:08 PM
Yes, we should promote fat acceptance instead, like the feminists want, despite the myriad of health issues link to obesity, and the increasing cost of medical care that we all share, thanks to fat people.
Patrick at June 14, 2016 4:04 AM
PS My boobs aren't that small and I'm not quite that skinny, but that's basically my body now -- at 52.
I can't run anymore -- used to do seven miles, three times a week -- but I just work out for 45 minutes a few times a week on the bike. And I do 10 pushups and 10 situps every time I make a cup of coffee, which is about five times a day.
Thanks to eating low-carb, despite how I have barely left my house for six months and really a year (because of the demands of this book I'm writing, my column, and a talk I have to do), I weigh only about 10 more pounds than I did when I was in high school. (And I was a stick in high school.)
So...unrealistic? No. It's me. I'm real.
Amy Alkon at June 14, 2016 5:21 AM
I'm waiting for the conflict when the postmodern feminist demand that says women must be shielded from the slightest affront meets the Middle East philosophy that says it's OK to rape them. Oh wait, I think I already know how it comes out -- which one applies to you depends on your social class.
Cousin Dave at June 14, 2016 6:43 AM
This has nothing to do with 'protecting girls' feelings'. It is simply a combination of Muslim and SJW virtue-signaling, nothing less and nothing more. Mayor Kahn has some acceptance issues with some portions of the populace due to his Muslim religion, and with others due to his apparent rejection of some of the more extreme elements of Islam. This is a pitch-perfect move that will please two very-distinct groups of voters who don't like seeing images of scantily-clad, attractive young women on the Tube, namely, intersectional/Third Wave feminists and conservative Muslims. It's a no-lose choice, perfect politicking.
llater,
llamas
llamas at June 14, 2016 7:16 AM
Now, put an obese woman in that ad. Are you beach ready? Would that entice you to purchase the product being advertised?
Doesn't work. Advertisers sell fantasy and play upon your desires. The product they're offering will solve all your problems. The weight loss drug in this ad will make you look like the woman in this ad. If women didn't want to look like that with no effort, the product would be advertised in a different manner, appealing to different fantasy.
Put a man in the ad. Does London's mayor care if this puts unrealistic body expectations on the male population? Or fills the female population with unrealistic exceptions of men?
Conan the Grammarian at June 14, 2016 9:28 AM
If you start censoring media because someone is offended, then there will be no media left. People have complained because women in ads are too pretty, too thin. People object to ads for snacks. A while back in the US it was objected that ads for toys and cereal on cartoon channels were "exploiting" children, so now you see ads for cars and oil changes mixed in--but the real consequence is that the number of shows for kids is down since auto makers don't want to advertise on a cartoon network and probably are only kept alive by bundling on cable. And let's not forget that people are offended by and want to prevent Trump ads also.
Craig Loehle at June 14, 2016 9:31 AM
Why not put a picture of an obese woman in a bikini in the add. If you can't entice them with what they could be, scare them with the reality.
Steamer at June 14, 2016 9:35 AM
That's "unrealistic expectations of men"
Stupid autocorrect!
Conan the Grammarian at June 14, 2016 9:42 AM
Certainly she's beach ready! Greenpeace will come right on over and roll her back into the ocean.
Patrick at June 14, 2016 10:17 AM
Shammu!
Bob in texas at June 14, 2016 11:52 AM
What did you expect when these London dildos elected a muslim mayor?
You think he was going to try to entice the "Miss Nude United Kingdom" pageant to take place in Londonstan?
Jay at June 14, 2016 12:30 PM
If you start censoring media because someone is offended
I'd be surprised if this isn't in CA or NY in the near future.
Stinky the Clown at June 14, 2016 4:21 PM
"encourage them to conform to unrealistic or unhealthy body shapes."
Sorry, no. Did the lord mayor ever hear of parenting? Kids who are more influenced about their dieting and other behaviors by ads instead of by their parents have crappy parents.
Good parents will be teaching their kids that ads - not just the ones with "unrealistic expectations about their bodies" - are all full of fantasy and other selling techniques. Especially the ads from politicians - those are all full of BS!
How about lord mayor ban the burka? Doesn't the burka tell woman that their female bodies are something to be ashamed of?
charles at June 14, 2016 6:50 PM
I'm glad you mentioned the muslim part, Amy. This ban smacks of a Sharia-based ulterior motive.
mpetrie98 at June 14, 2016 8:51 PM
I've got 4 kids, and I am not a crappy parent, and we've had discussions about ads just wanting to make you buy items, and not being truthful, and what photoshop is, all their lives. Counteracting literally every image they see, simply isn't possible anymore. I wish it were. Photoshopping is going to have to go, for out collective sanity. And I say that NOT as a "everyone's beautiful" obese-lover, but as a mom of 3 daughters who are ALL clinically underweight but whose oldest is already bemoaning the fact that her abdomen isn't physically-impossibly-microscopic. No matter what I say/do (and I've never bemoaned my weight/size in front of them, or talked about restrictive eating, or not eaten, etc.)
momof4 at June 14, 2016 10:51 PM
She's hot, in an I-only-eat-morning-dew-and-saltines sort of way.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 15, 2016 12:50 PM
Best not complain about Photoshop.
Many forget - especially when viewing Hollywood or old-style Playboy photography - that when you have the entire world to choose from, you don't have to Photoshop anything. There really IS a girl or guy that looks so perfect you stand there in awe. If you're like me, there are cases so fascinating you even forget to be lustful, they are so much like a work of art. Great photographers can bring this out. See "Kounelli Photography" on FB for object lessons on how to shoot women. Google will show your teenager thousands of --- interesting --- pictures like that, simply for the price of the search terms, {name}{"model"}{body part of interest}.
Photoshop is cheaper, but it doesn't have to be used. That's my point.
On the other hand, you really don't have to use a real person at all.
Radwaste at June 16, 2016 4:52 PM
YES. My wife deals with people questioning her weight and health 5'4 105. She is just an athletic 56 year old that eats properly. I think she looks fantastic.
David Mellish at June 21, 2016 8:18 AM
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