London Underground bans dating app ad featuring topless man, 58, for ' sexual objectification'



AN advert featuring a topless model in his fifties has been banned from the London Underground over claims it sexually objectified him. The advert, for an over-50s dating app, showed 58-year-old Paul Orchard wearing just braces, holding a phone with the tagline: “Pull a cracker this Christmas.” However Transport for London’s advertising agent, Exterion Media, has demanded that it be changed to feature a clothed model with a “less suggestive” tagline.

It claimed the advert for Lumen, the first dating app exclusively for the over-fifties, was “not compliant” with Committee of Advertising Practice guidelines and said it “could be seen as objectifying the man and his physique”. 

The Committee of Advertising Practice declined to comment on the advert. From June next year it will ban adverts which reinforce gender stereotypes, like men struggling with household tasks or women as bad drivers. The Lumen advert will now appear as a toned down version on the Tube, with the man fully clothed in a red suit and the tag line "Santa, Baby".

It comes amid a wider clamp down on body shaming adverts by tube bosses following furore over Protein World's "Are you beach body ready?" campaign.

The founders of the Lumen app defended the advert, describing TfL's decision as “absurd”.

Despite the decision to pull the ads from the tube, the billboards with the original image and tagline will appear across the country from next week.

Lumen's co-founder, Charly Lester, said: “This campaign is only meant to be a bit of fun. I didn’t think it would get banned, I thought it was funny. I don’t think it is rude — it is cheeky.

"Our app is all about anti-ageism, body confidence and being yourself, so to have this banned is a bit depressing. It’s ridiculous and absurd.”

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