London Subway Bans Ad for ‘Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding’ Over ‘Unhealthy’ Wedding Cake Photo
Posters advertising the London run of “Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding” were pulled from the city’s subway stations because they depict an “unhealthy” wedding cake, in violation of the transport agency’s rules.
The episode appears designed to boost publicity for the improv-driven immersive comedy based on a traditional Italian-American wedding and reception, which ran in various venues in New York for more than two decades and opens in the West End on July 15.
The banned poster features the two leads, Ronnie Burden and Alabama Boatman, dancing on top of a wedding cake covered in white icing, was considered to be in breach of Transport for London’s food and drink advertising policy, The Sun first reported.
The producers for the show threw $25,000 into the marketing campaign and printed 200 posters featuring the stars, according to The Sun. But the tiered Victoria sponge cake image didn’t meet the Transport for London’s standards.
The agency maintained the ad breached their strict obesity rules by promoting “the consumption of high fat, salt and sugar foods.” Even “posters featuring “incidental” depictions of HFSS food are a no-no.
The production team appealed the ruling but failed to sway the agency, and the company was forced to shell out roughly $6,300 more on a new ad campaign — minus the cake.
Theatre impresario Paul Gregg, branded the decision “ridiculous.”
“I never dreamt it would be a problem,” he told The Sun. “We’ve now reached a point where a poster can be banned because it features a cake. It’s ridiculous and just makes everything hard work.”
A TfL spokesman told The Times of London, ““We welcome all advertising on our network that complies with our published guidance. We are always happy to work with brands to help them follow our advertising policy.”
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