Also, beauty products and services are slightly different than surgery. I too put on make-up and like to feel 'pretty.'

However, I wouldn't want my boyfriend to tell me I need to wear more make-up to cover up my 'problem areas'. Just as no man should tell a woman (especially if they are in a relationship) that her breasts aren't large enough, or that her tummy isn't firm enough, or that she has too many wrinkles by her eyes.

If a woman chooses surgery for herself, that's fine. But it becomes a serious problem when someone she desires approval from makes it for her.

He said that it is targeted at the men. So, men realize that their wife/girlfriend/mistress/whatever can look like this model and decide to buy her a nose job for Christmas. Cute. Then I suppose she should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen while he brings home the bacon.

For some reason I had the idea that society was actually changing for the better. Guess not.

A.) An idiot

B.) Representative of a certain percentage of the worlds population who's death is required -- and with you your errant, illogical and suffocating ideas -- in order for our society to mature.

Hi! So we finally meet at last! :)

I would love to live in your world, where nothing anybody ever said anywhere ever affected you in the slightest.

Try being a fat middle class female in a middle school in America. It makes you care an awful lot about these things.

Psychological studies HAVE shown detrimental effects of this kind of advertising.

And yes, I am in fact in therapy. My therapist thankfully understands that people actually care what others think, and if others are saying that the woman on this billboard isn't good enough, then there's no way in hell I ever will be.

And if you think about it, this man is making his money on insecurities and people wishing they were something else so as to attract a mate or make their spouse like them better. So he's counting on those insecurities to make money, so he obviously thinks they're there and valid, he wants you to be insecure.

People care what others think, including advertisers. Pretending otherwise, well, it's all well and good for you, kudos and all that.

I've never personally met somebody who could actually claim that.

I disagree that it's in poor taste .. but even if it is, it's still effective!

"WAAAA! Society wants women to be slim and pretty! Also, it wants men to be rich, handsome and have washboard abs!"

I've got to get working on the "rich" part, dammit. Don't forget "tall"!

Hahahaha!

Even if it isn't, there is a clear difference in being in poor taste and something being wrong. Is the add in poor taste? Does it offend people? Sure, but when did it become everyones' right to never be offended?

I'm offended by the obese airline passenger that didn't buy two seats and needs to lift up the arm rest on either side just so they can fit into the seat area, but I dealt with it. Some people will be offended that I later complained and laughed at that persons expense. Obviously I don't care, and don't need to make apologies for it. Neither should the ad agency. But of course they will to avoid any negative press.

If they'd taken away the text (except for their name, thus implying this kind of results as an "after" picture), it'd be fine. If the model was in fact a patient (and thus this actually was an "after" picture), at least.

With the text, it's in extremely poor taste, and I fail to see how folks here don't realize it.

i feel you. i'm shocked at some of these responses.

What a load of crap this is. I've said it before and I'll say it again: political correctness is bs. The sign is just doing what every advertisement does that depicts women. It's just a little less subtle. Hopefully Pascal fights this.

I had no idea consumerist.com readers were so misogynistic.

If the ad is objectionable to Clear Channel, why did it go up in the first place? Don't they check their ads before they go up?

What is the precise reason for which Clear Channel is removing the ad now? Do they have a fairly wide notion of what objectionable means? Do they make contracts with a clause that if the community objects, Clear Channel can cancel the contract? I could see how they might want that in their contract.

Perhaps the owners of the medical spa were in fact hurt by all the bad publicity (contrary to what they claimed) and decided to pull the ad while still claiming to the press that it is really a great ad and that they want to keep it up there.

Also, it's not so bad if children see a naked body ... after all, childred have bodies too. Perhaps if children were exposed to a bit more nudity when they're little (not porn), they might grow up to be more well adjusted, less uptight adults.

And I'm not sure if it was meant to be in response to what I had said, but I did not advocate for the removal of the sign.

Wow. Saying that any woman who is affected by these types of ads needs therapy? That is really respectful of you.

I do understand advertising, insecurities, etc. And I'm also working on my MA in psychology right now. So I understand a bit about people who need therapy.

I noted how the divorce lawyer said the ad increased business and so on an so forth. I would take such claims of increased business in both cases with a lot of skepticism. I just can't imagine the person who put the ad up admit: "Yeah, people protested and our business just went down the shitter." In both cases, we're talking about private companies. They don't have to answer to anyone but themselves so that kind of statement can go unchecked. (Publicly traded companies need to be much more careful about that kind of statement because they answer to the shareholders.)

It's insulting to say a woman that beautiful still isn't good enough. I realize that's what advertising does, but it IS hurting American girls and it IS a problem. Numerous pyschological studies are showing that advertising like this are causing problems in girls from eating disorders to depression.

It's a crude advertising strategy and I would hope that rather than insist on taking the billboard down, from now on people say "Yes, you have the right to have a billboard like that. We also have the right to stop using your service." Business owners rarely understand what they've done wrong until you cause an economic impact.

Well, every woman needs a purse holder.

I do have an issue with the mentality of the ad and they salon owner. Targeted at men? Like they should get their woman detailed just like they do their car?

These ads prey on the insecurities of women who feel vulnerable already about their youth and their looks. Because younger women and teens are more insecure they can have an even worse effect.

There is already too much blurring the lines between beauty services and medical services. Lots of salons are teaming up with doctors or clinic groups to open these beauty salon monsters that combine typical salon services with plastic surgery and botox etc.

From an ad design perspective it's a pretty bad ad. But it is getting a lot of attention in the community so that makes it a huge success.

I support the spa owner's right to put is ad up but I also support the citizen's right to petition for its removal.

As for myself, I like my women real. The typical pre- and post-processed models who appear in ads for me represent fakeness of the highest degree.

WAAAA! Society wants women to be slim and pretty! Also, it wants men to be rich, handsome and have washboard abs!

Oh the injustice! Won't somebody think of the children?!? (while we sit on our asses getting fat, eating crap, and driving up the cost of healthcare)

If I have to work out and make a lot of money to get a woman, you bitches better be starving yourselves, too!

However - since it is not illegal, and he has not agreed to take it down, it shouldn't be taken down.

I'm not offended by the "raciness" of it, just the idea that a woman that looks like that actually has imperfections! Jeez, I'm at normal weight, but I bet they'd just put a picture up with the words "fat cow" on it.

And yes, I am not in any way in the market for plastic surgery.

The text in the bubbles do make it sound like it's a before image though. It's like the visual equivalent of bad grammer. Why didn't they do a before AND after picture?

"I don't want to sound like a chauvinistic pig,

but you will anyway because that's what you are.

Self esteem takes another blow. Ouch. Considering that you can't really avoid looking at it, and that some younger people are really impressionable.

And yes, probably HALF of the North Shore women are in the market for cosmetic surgery.

I don't want to sound hungry, but I'd really like to eat something.

I don't want to sound like a lecher, but wow that chick is fine and mmmm what I'd like to do with her.

I don't want to sound insightful, but the target of this ad is definitely women, as the vast majority of plastic surgeons clients are women, and the ad is preying on the insecurities of women, but cleverly giving dudes some eye candy.

Say what you mean, Dr. Jerk.

We have become a country of too easily offended and too politically correct pussies.

That about sums it up right there.

@kerry:

HA! Thanks for the laugh. :D

I don't think the people complaining about this ad were ever really in the market for cosmetic surgery.

This comment basically hit the nail on the head. In Europe, you will see much more racey ads and commercials. What the f**k with the U.S. being so prude?! We have become a country of too easily offended and too politically correct pussies.

Umm, yeah, that's basically the whole advertising industry, in case you've been living in a cave for the past 65 years or so.

More than likely the same people that are complaining are the women that wouldn't mind gawking at a CK boxer brief ad on the same billboard.

Ah, the time-honored Argument from Speculation of Future Hypocrisy.

While your logic is airtight and all, it seems at least as likely that it's religious conservatives complaining, rather than the bitter and cartoonishly hypocritical women you've conjured.

My suggestion? A dueling billboard, which features this model and other more imperfect women, flipping off Mr. Igbui and informing the world that they plan to spend their money on better things.

Screw the partial nudity, the actual content of the ad is pretty offensive, and it really takes a lot to move my needle in that direction. I'm all for people choosing cosmetic surgery if that pleases them, but I don't feel very good about an advertiser telling people that they're inherently broken and need fixing.

He's an ass.

What the hell? What effect is it having on young girls? You must live in Glenview.

And yes, all SUV ads are offensive.

Quoting the article: "Paul Meyer, president of Phoenix-based Clear Channel Outdoor, said Friday his company retains the right to reject any copy that is considered inappropriate."

Which leads to the blatently obvious question: what changed from the original clearance process to Friday, Mr. Meyer?

I think that part of the issue here is that it's not a print ad, where you can turn the page, or a radio spot, where you can change the channel, but a billboard, which you're pretty much forced to look at it every time you drive by.

I would be fine with being forced to look at her every day on the way to work, but I can see how the fact that it's so literally in your face may irk some people who don't like the message.

In many communities billbard advertising is tightly regulated. And Sao Paolo recently banned billboards altogether: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/12/news/brazil.php
Good for them!

And maybe just to show them how ridiculous they are, we can start a petition to KEEP it up. I'm sure we can find more than 300 to sign a petition for that.

I'm SO INSANELY TIRED of all the PC attitudes and mandates the United States is putting on everyone else. Stop telling me what is bad for me, what I can and cannot look at, and go home and screw your own family up.

This is along the lines of the Cocaine-named energy drink a while back - If you're not part or the target audience, chances are that you're not going to be fond of the marketing strategies.

I don't think the people complaining about this ad were ever really in the market for cosmetic surgery.

But there's nothing objectively wrong with it...

By their arguing, I don't like gas-guzzling SUVs...so should all SUV commercials be considered offensive?

B. I doubt he has any "problem areas" he hasn't already "fixed" cosmetically.

Best billboard for one of these clinics I ever saw just had the name of the clinic and a clock that ran backwards. That was it.