'Fight them on the beaches' Slim Fast ad under fire

by Jennifer Whitehead,, Brand Republic 03-Jun-04, 08:30

LONDON - A poster campaign for Slim Fast that features bikini-clad women declaring "We will fight them on the beaches" could face investigation after complaints that it was in bad taste in light of the 60th anniversary of D-Day on Sunday.

The advertising watchdog is considering whether to hold a formal investigation into the ad, which was created by Grey London.

The Advertising Standards Authority said it had received 15 complaints so far from members of the public who say that the ad is offensive in light of the anniversary of the June 6 landings in Normandy.

The poster shows a group of five women wearing bikinis in front of a Union Jack flag. Along with the line "We will fight them on the beaches", it reads "Three weeks and we'll be a smaller size. You got that foreign girls?" and invites women to "enlist" in a weight loss plan.

It is part of a campaign encouraging consumers to adopt the Slim Fast 'Lets Bikini' plan, to help them fit into last year's bikini. The line is taken from Winston Churchill's rousing speech delivered on June 4, 1940, credited with helping keep morale up during the dark days of the Battle of Britain. In the speech Churchill famously goes on to say: "We will never surrender."

The Slim Fast creative was launched last month and ran in national press, women's weeklies and posters, with other posters featuring images of thin continental models, with captions including, 'I love British women … hey make me look great'; and 'Face it British Women, it's not last year's bikini getting smaller'.

Slim Fast said that the campaign had already finished running and that the posters were taken down last weekend.

A spokesman for the brand said: "Obviously we did research for the campaign, and that showed that people recognised the comment in the context of wanting to get in shape for the beach. We don't set out of offend anyone."

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