Every Body is a Bikini Body

When ads of a bikini clad model asking the question, “Are you beach body ready?” began popping up in London tube stations, nobody was surprised. Unfortunately, women of our generation are used to seeing the female body hyper-sexualized in order to sell a product. What was surprising—and inspiring—is the way people reacted to the ads.

Several subway riders began writing words of encouragement on the ads, changing the message completely. Bloggers Tara Costello and Fiona Longmuir posed in front of the advert in bikinis, proudly stating that all they need to do is put on a bikini to be bikini ready.

A Facebook page called Each Body’s Ready has been started in protest of the ads. Blythe Pepino, a singer in the band Vault, has helped the #eachbodysready campaign succeed. She claimed she was tired of seeing these types of ads.

“It’s not uncommon to see ladies in lingerie, but the commoditization and sexualization of ‘the beach body’ seems to have become a meme trending in our lives. It was too much for me to sit by and watch, so I decided to take action,” Pepino said to the BBC.

The Advertising Standards Authority has already received 33 official complaints about the ads, and a Change.org campaign to get the ads removed has gotten 35,000 signatures.