Brooklynites Are Complaining About Lane Bryant’s Subway Ads

Lane Bryant's #ImNoAngel Cacique lingerie campaign is just over two weeks old, but reactions are still coming in. The latest is from New York City councilman David Greenfield, whose constituents are upset about the oversized subway ads that cover the exterior of NYC's F trains. The ads feature plus-size, lingerie-clad women in what we'd argue are fairly vanilla poses, and which — obviously — don't compromise any of the United States obscenity laws. However, this hasn't stopped a group of New Yorkers from submitting complaints.
  
Greenfield's constituents, who are mainly Orthodox Jews, are offended by the subway ads running through the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood. While we're all used to subway ads filling the insides of cars, these ads wrap around the train and are visible to everyone within the vicinity of the aboveground tracks — whether they've chosen to ride the subway or not. “My objection is not to the ads. My objection is to the placement of the ads,” explains Greenfield. He continues:  Many of my constituents with small children have asked that the ads of underwear models be removed because these wrapped MTA trains run through their residential neighborhoods. Simply put, you wouldn’t take your five-year-old to a PG-13 or rated-R movie, so why should your five-year-old, walking on his way to school, see these ads in his neighborhood? That is why we have asked the MTA to remove the ads or simply place them in non-residential neighborhoods. While there are others who have objected to the specific women in the ads, it is clear that Greenfield's criticisms have nothing to do with the size of the model.    

But, it looks like Greenfield and those who agree with him will have to endure the sight of the ad campaign — or find a new commute — for the next three weeks, as the MTA is not planning to remove the advertisements any earlier than projected. An MTA rep tells the Bensonhurt Bean, “These advertisements are part of a campaign running in outdoor formats across the country. The ads meet the standards for commercial advertising commonly used by transit agencies in many states.” This isn't the first time the MTA has allowed “racy” ads to be shown; in 2014, an advertisement for breast augmentation prominently featured a woman's inflated chest and ran in approximately 1,000 subway cars and 50 stations. Those images also received a great deal of backlash from multiple sources, including Governor Cuomo's aide Howard Glaser, who penned a letter to the MTA chairman on the Governor’s behalf. Although the MTA has allowed controversial ads to run on multiple occasions, it has prevented certain ads from decorating mass transportation, including a “too-risqué” ad for a moving company that showed a couple in an implied sexual situation. And, under all-too-familiar circumstances, the MTA expunged a vodka ad that showcased a female model's swimsuit-covered lower body after Hasidic leaders in Brooklyn complained. While we're uncertain what specifically makes these Lane Bryant advertisements different from the ads the MTA has banned, perhaps Elly Mayday, one of the models in the campaign, puts it best: I think it is actually a really beautiful campaign. Children are introduced to so many unrealistic, overly sexualized depictions of women. Why not provide an image of women that reflects their moms and the beautiful women of the everyday world? I think it is compelling to see images of women children can recognize. It is an "in-your-face"-type statement that everyone needs to see, because people are tired of being given one definition of beauty that excludes the majority. The images are not overly sexualized, and they meet the standards. I say, let the trains keep on rollin'. More style scoop:
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