London Tube Bans Theater Poster Over ‘Unhealthy’ Depiction Of… A Wedding Cake
Once in a while, advertising agencies will be made to pull a commercial or poster if it runs afoul of authorities’ regulations or upsets the general public. Recently, DDB Philippines retracted a ‘Love The Philippines’ spot when it was found to have used stock imagery of other countries.
Now, it appears Transport for London (TfL) has banned a promotional poster for a West End theater production from appearing in its subways. But unlike other instances where campaigns were removed for being offensive, this time, it’s all because of a wedding cake.
Yes, turns out, the poster for Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding—a forthcoming play about a bride and groom on the edge of breaking up—was deemed to be in violation of the rules for featuring an “unhealthy” multi-tier wedding cake.
It seems the dessert was said to be portraying foods “high in fat, salt, and sugar,” which goes against TfL’s food and drink advertising policies. The Broadway comedy, which paid £20,000 (US$25,000) for 200 posters, had to fork out another £5,000 (US$6,400) to slice out the cake.
Producer Paul Gregg told The Times he had never imagined the wedding cake would be an issue, remarking that the ruling—in which the production lost the appeal—was “ridiculous” and “just makes everything hard work.”
According to Marketing Beat, the advertising guidelines on unhealthy foods were first introduced in 2019 after TfL adopted the Department of Health and Social Care’s nutrient profiling model, which aims to limit the exposure of such foods to children.
A spokesperson for the train network remarked that it would “welcome all advertising” should it comply with its publishing regulations and offered to help “work with brands” to aid them in following the advertising policy.
Fortunately, it seems Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding will be going ahead, as the new posters sans the hefty wedding cake have been approved.
[via Marketing Beat and The Guardian, cover image via Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding]
