A cycling safety ad created by Germany’s transport ministry has sparked an outcry of sexism after it featured a model wearing just a helmet and underwear.
The ad, which features a contestant from Germany’s Next Top Model along with the slogan “Looks like shit. But saves my life” has the women’s wing of junior coalition partners SPD demanding it not go live on billboards.
The campaign has been mocked on social media, with one user posting it’s Germany’s bicycle infrastructure that “#lookslikeshit”.
SPD’s women’s wing chairwoman Maria Noichl told Bild am Sonntag: “It is embarrassing, stupid and sexist for the transport minister to be selling his policies using naked skin.”
Family minister Franziska Giffey also lambasted Germany’s transport minister Andreas Scheuer of the conservative CSU party.
Giffey posted a photo of herself on Facebook dressed in business clothes with her bicycle, writing: “Dear Andreas Scheuer: fully dressed also goes well with a helmet!”