More specifically, are they too hot for the New York subway system?
Advertisement
The MTA declined to comment on the ads, but Outfront spokeswoman Carly Zipp said the Thinx ads are still under review and have not been rejected.
But to Thinx co-founder Miki Agrawal, the pushback from Outfront is nothing less than a “sexist double standard”.
Unique indeed, revolutionary even; yet the advertising contractor for the New York City MTA is preventing the ads from running on the subway, claiming they’re “inappropriate” and “suggestive”. Outfront also issued it’s own statement explaining the reasons why they have been unable to accept Thix’s proposed ads – and made it clear that the company was still in the approval process and had not been disapproved of anything officially yet. Agrawal said Outfront was unhappy with the word “period” in the ads, and also with a few of the suggestive imagery.
Together with our transit partners, OUTFRONT Media makes every effort to assist advertisers in creating campaigns that are both effective and appropriate to the transit environment.
It appears that last week regulators expressed concern over the hypersexualized content of THINX’s print advertising, and sent back the proposed designs.
In response, THINX has kept the supposedly deeply offensive term in the ad, and for now the copies’ suitability for being displayed by the MTA is still being reviewed.
One ad shows a grapefuit, that resembles a woman’s genitalia, while another shows a photo of a cracked egg, likely alluding to the unfertilized eggs that are released during menstruation.
According to the MTA’s guidelines for ads, ads depicting “sexual or excretory activities” or materials that promote a “sexually oriented business” are prohibited. Horrors! Meanwhile, other subway ads that show much more skin have been approved.
Seems pretty straightforward, but Outfront Media isn’t having it.
She said OUTFRONT was explicit in e-mails that the egg and fruit had to be removed, and there was too much skin.
Advertisement
Let’s get this straight: mostly naked women in breast-augmentation ads? It’s still unclear what form the ads will be approved in, if they’re approved at all. This is 2015. This is happening today.
