New Yorkers are up in arms at the sight of a sexist billboard campaign in their midst after a bright pink advert sprouted in Times Square depicting a woman biting on a lollipop with the message ‘Girl, tell them to suck it’.
Brainchild of Flat Tummy Co the Kim Kardashian endorsed exercise aims to encourage women to eat less for a perfect figure by reaching for their specialised tea, milkshakes and aforementioned lollipops instead of food whenever you feel hungry.
These snacks and refreshments allegedly suppress appetite, with the firm boasting that it has signed up over 1.5m ‘babes’ to its diet.
Actress Jameela Jamil was quick to call-out the sexism inherent to this campaign on Twitter, complaining that an absence of men implied that only women faced social stigma to achieve the perfect physique. Others lamented the choice of location, above a pizza restaurant, for making people feel guilty about eating.
EVEN TIMES SQUARE IS TELLING WOMEN TO EAT LESS NOW? Have we actually gone mad? Why aren’t there any boys in the ad? Why is it fucking PINK? Because you feel men can look however they want? Their goals are to be successful. But ours are to just be smaller? Fuck off @FlatTummyCo pic.twitter.com/douKKwedxf
— Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) July 10, 2018
The use of lollipops also didn’t go down well as the advert was further picked apart, with many worried that the prominent display of sweets could attract children not its message, amidst fears that children as young as five may form body image stigmas.
Flat Tummy Co joins a long line of sexist ad campaigns, including a striptease promo by a Kazakh airline.