Are you “beach body ready”? For many of us, that question will conjure up the same image: a svelte woman standing uncomfortably straight in a bright yellow bikini, her eyes sharp if a little vacant, reflecting everything that’s wrong with our own bodies right back at her.
With the aforementioned question in bold lettering positioned behind her, it was an advert released in 2015 by Protein World, a meal replacement brand peddling its weight loss supplement. And it caused a major stir, sparking viral outrage and a spate of copycat campaigns turning the messaging on its head (“every body is beach body ready”) as well as getting banned in the UK due to concerns over the implication that taking Protein World’s supplement would boost weight loss.
