Protein World’s controversial campaign, featuring a skinny woman in an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow bikini posed the question to female commuters: ‘Are you beach body ready?’ Whilst offering up a slimming drink.

The weight-loss advert caused widespread outrage, a social media backlash and many posters were defaced by irate commuters who saw it as body-shaming and misogynistic – targeting women through the implication that if they didn’t look like a catwalk model, perhaps they weren't ready for the beach (or, seemingly, the beach wasn't ready for them).

Today, the Advertising Standards Authority has cleared the advertisement, on the grounds it does not objectify women.

The claim that the ASA investigated stated that:

“1. the ad implied that a body shape which differed from the 'idealised' one presented was not good enough or in some way inferior and was, therefore, offensive; and

2. the combination of an image of a very slim, toned body and the headline "ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY?" was socially irresponsible in the context of an ad for a slimming product.”

The ruling deemed that no further action was necessary because (and wait for this bit…) the advert “was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.”

In their ruling on the advertisement, the ASA states that:

“Although we understood the claim “Are you beach body ready?” invited readers to think about their figures, we did not consider the image of the model would shame women who had different body shapes into believing they needed to take a slimming supplement to feel confident wearing swimwear in public.”

This response has flummoxed us, since the adverts were banned from the tubes by the ASA in April, after being deemed socially irresponsible and following concerns it promoted weight loss.

Beach Body Ready advert ruled ‘not offensive’ by UK watchdog