Beach body ad ruled inoffensive

The controversial "beach body ready" campaign was not offensive or socially irresponsible and would not have shamed women into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement, the advertising watchdog has ruled.

However the ad for Protein World weight-loss products featuring a bikini-clad model asking "Are you beach body ready?" remains banned in its current form over concerns that its health and nutrition claims were not authorised on the EU Register.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had only just banned the ad when it began receiving the first of 378 complaints that the image of the "very slim, toned" model under the controversial headline implied other body shapes were in some way inferior.

Complainants also challenged whether the image was socially irresponsible in the context of a campaign for a slimming product.

Protein World argued the ad's intention was to invite the viewer to consider whether they were in the shape they wanted to be.

The company said the ad featured a model who used its products and who it felt had a healthy figure.

It said it did not believe the ad implied everyone should look like the model or that the text and image were irresponsible.

The ASA said the term "beach body" carried connotations of a toned, athletic physique similar to the image of the model in the ad but also had a broader meaning of "feeling sufficiently comfortable and confident with one's physical appearance to wear swimwear in a public environment".

The ASA said: "We considered the claim 'Are you beach body ready?' prompted readers to think about whether they were in the shape they wanted to be for the summer and we did not consider that the accompanying image implied that a different body shape to that shown was not good enough or was inferior.

"We concluded that the headline and image were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence."

It added that while the central question invited readers to think about their figures, "we did not consider the image of the model would shame women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in public".

It concluded: "For that reason, we concluded the ad was not irresponsible."

Many of the posters, which appeared in London Underground stations, were defaced and a petition calling for their removal gathered tens of thousands of signatures.

Protein World's head of global marketing Richard Staveley revealed the company received a bomb threat following the launch of the ad but said it had been "a brilliant campaign for us".

Rebecca Field, a spokeswoman for eating disorders charity Beat, said: " We find the ruling from the ASA extremely disappointing and we would argue that the advert is irresponsible.

"While we recognise advertising and the media cannot cause eating disorders - they are much more complex than that - we are aware how toxic images can be to an individual.

"While continuing to promote a slender body image as the only one we should aspire to, the Protein World advert advertises diet products, only adding to the harmful effect it could have on those susceptible to an eating disorder.

"Every body is different and Beat will continue to campaign to see a wide variety of shapes and sizes represented in the media."