UK comedian calls for hot dogs to be removed from subway posters over junk food ban

LONDON (AP) — On the London Underground, hot dogs are no joke.

Comedian Ed Gamble has been ordered to change the subway station poster campaign for his new standup show because the image of a hot dog violated the transit network’s ban on junk food advertising.

The poster for the show, “Hot Diggity Dog”, shows Gamble smeared with mustard and ketchup next to a half-eaten hot dog on a plate.

Shocked, Gamble replaced the wiener with cucumber and the poster was approved.

Gamble, who suffers from diabetes and co-hosts the “Off Menu” food podcast, said he can see the point of the advertising rules, which are aimed at helping prevent obesity in children.

“But the new posters promote something much more harmful – the idea that cucumbers go well with ketchup and mustard,” he said.

Gamble is not complaining about the additional publicity generated by the case.

“The posters are now becoming more popular than their value,” he told the BBC on Thursday.

Since 2019, Transport for London has banned advertisements for foods high in fat, sugar and salt on the city’s Metro trains and stations, buses and bus shelters. It also prohibits advertisements promoting unhealthy or unrealistic body shape,

“After reviewing the ad, we advised that elements would need to be removed or obscured to ensure compliance with our policy,” the transit operator said. “A revised ad is now running on the network and we’re always happy to work with people to ensure that ads follow our policy.”

Last year, a poster for the drama “Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding” that showed a large wedding cake was against the rules. TfL ordered cake cutting from the advertisement.

The advertising policy has attracted the anger of Britain’s tabloid press, with The Sun criticizing “killjoy TfL bosses”.

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