Boob job poster ad goes tits up

A poster advertising campaign running in UK retail parks which urged women to travel to Malaysia for a boob job has been banned for trivialising cosmetic surgery.
Malaysia-based Medical Tourism Association, which claims to be one of the few organisations backed by its own government, ran the campaign in motorway service stations and shopping centres across the UK.
Alongside simple illustrations, the ad stated: “Did you know… ‘Boob job’ is the most popular cosmetic procedure for women.”
It added: “Malaysia is proud to be one of the only countries in the region where medical tourism is promoted by the government,” and went to promote its quality of care guided by industry standards.
But the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the ad trivialised cosmetic surgery by suggesting it could be incorporated into a holiday.
Responding on the Medical Tourism Association’s behalf, outdoor media owner Admedia claimed the ad was “informative and promoted safety and high standards” and used a “common colloquial term for breast augmentation, often used across several types of media”. It refuted claims that it was linked to a holiday as there were no pricing, tourist or accommodation details.
Unimpressed, the watchdog ruled the ad’s focus on breast enlargement – followed by an encouragement to have the procedure carried out abroad – was likely to detract from the seriousness of the surgery.
Banning the ad, it ruled the poster could be interpreted as suggesting the decision to have surgery could be “undertaken lightly, without serious consideration of the nature of the intervention”.