The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has approved the display of ads for a company that sells menstrual underwear after news spread online that the MTA would not approve them because they were too graphic, amNY reported.
The ads display a cracked egg or a grapefruit next to a woman donning Thinx underwear, which is made of naturally absorbent material for women to wear while on their period. The company’s tagline is “Period Panties for Modern Women,” and it offers the underwear in three different styles.
Outfront Media, the company tasked with approving ads for display on NYC’s subway system, initially took issue with Thinx’s ads because they exhibited “sexual excretory activities” and promoted a “sexually oriented business,” according to emails obtained by Mic.
According to amNY.com, MTA chairman Thomas Prendergast said following a board meeting Wednesday that the Thinx ads “offended” him. Namely the cracked egg and grapefruit were suggestive, he said.
After Mic made Outfront’s delayed decision public, opponents took to social media, some arguing that the MTA was using a double standard, as it has approved ads for a breast enhancement service that involves women holding differently sized fruits in front of their chest.
Ultimately the MTA and Outfront decided that displaying the subway ads were a First Amendment issue, Prendergast said, according to amNY.com. The ads are set to be displayed at a Brooklyn subway station starting in November.
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