Is one ad more offensive than the other? Both seem pretty innocuous in the grand scheme of advertising, but the NYC Metro Transit Authority apparently says that tangerines and oranges are OK, but eggs and grapefruits are not.
At least, that's according to Thinx CEO Miki Agrawal. The CEO of the company that sells panties meant to replace tampons and pads said that the MTA told her she had to take a series of ads down after complaints.
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The ads that blanket the Bedford Avenue station in Brooklyn feature women wearing full black underwear with tanks and turtlenecks alongside images of the runny yolks and peeled grapefruits. Meanwhile, another ad campaign for breast augmentation shows a frowning woman holding tangerines up to her chest, along with a happy woman holding up oranges. The eggs and grapefruits were too suggestive, the MTA said.
Double standard? Agrawal thinks so.
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"We said, "Excuse you?" You allow breast augmentation ads where they show little oranges as an OK ad to show? We have a grapefruit in a more subtle way and you're saying that is suggestive," she told am New York. "That's absolutely not OK."
Are Thinx's ads too suggestive? Not any more than the breast implant ads.
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"Our ads are absolutely not as racy or lewd,” Agrawal told the New York Daily News. The other ads, she said, are “significantly more sexualized and sexist, basically.”