A Manhattan company that makes underwear women can use instead of pads or tampons said it was told its ads are too suggestive for the subway.
Thinx, based in Chelsea, reached out to the MTA’s advertising contractor OUTFRONT Media about blanketing the Bedford Avenue station on the L with ads about a month ago. The 76 posters would show women wearing full black underwear with tank tops and turtlenecks, alongside images of egg yolks and grapefruits.
Currently, riders can see ads for breast augmentation that show a frowning woman holding tangerines to her chest during their commutes.
Thinx’s CEO Miki Agrawal said her company was told the images of the egg and grapefruit were too suggestive, as well as the use of the word period.
“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 said. “That’s absolutely not OK, that’s a double standard.”
She added that the company was told that children would view the ads, and might ask questions about them.
“It should be something that everyone knows about, and it’s not a big deal,” said Agrawal. “It opens a dialogue. What era are we in?”
OUTFRONT said it did not reject the wording, and that the ad is still being reviewed by the MTA.
“We suggested changes that we felt were appropriate for the riding public and were hoping to work with the advertiser to refine the copy,” the contractor said in a statement.
Thinx’s marketing director said the statement was a lie. She said OUTFRONT was explicit in e-mails that the egg and fruit had to be removed, and there was too much skin.
The e-mails also noted that the MTA recently tightened its standards.
