"As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end," Khan said.
The mayor added, "Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this."
Khan was not clear in what would determine which ads would be banned, as it doesn't include all images of people in underwear or swimming clothes. Most underwear and bikini models though can be assumed to have non-average bodies.
There was a petition with over 70,000 on Change.org opposing an advertisement with women in a bikini that asked "are you beach body ready?" The petition said, "Protein World is directly targeting individuals, aiming to make them feel physically inferior to the unrealistic* body image of the bronzed model, in order to sell their product."
Recently, advertisements featuring bikini-clad models in the British city of Birmingham were spray painted over. Birmingham has a high Muslim population.
"This is also the first Muslim mayor of London, and the inevitable anti-Muslim reaction has ensued."
What should be the right reaction?
I personally do not react positively to how he wants to ban "sexy women" because they are "body shaming". And it has nothing to do with his religion, that I am not against.
But why not ban "luxury watch" ads for example, because the make me feel and remind me I am poor and thus inferior, and it is unrealistic for me to buy any one day?