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A crackdown on ‘sexist’ adverts on London’s Tube stations and buses was promised by Tessa Jowell today.

She vowed to ban campaigns like the “Are you beach body ready?” posters that generated hundreds of complaints and were defaced by furious commuters.

Dame Tessa said images of emaciated and unhealthy-looking models will be outlawed on the public transport system if she becomes Mayor.

“Women ought to be able to travel in an environment which doesn’t constantly demean them or present an unrealistic image of women’s bodies,” she told the Evening Standard.

“Young women need support to be more confident about their bodies and their life chances. They need help to ensure they have the confidence to focus on their talents rather than their tummies.”

Another ad that infuriated many travellers showed a blonde with the slogan: “We can’t swap your missus for a Swedish supermodel, but we can swap your money for her Krona.”

Tighter guidelines would be drawn up by Transport for London which has poster sites across the capital, including Underground stations, carriages platforms and buses, to filer out “unrealistic body images”.

The crackdown is part of a package of policies to promote equality for London women, including targets for skills training places and forcing bigger companies to check whether they are paying women employees the same as men for similar work.

Dame Tessa said sexist ads could “destroy women’s confidence” and affect both their mental and physical health.

Lorna Garner, of the eating disorders charity Beat, welcomed the pledge, saying inappropriate posters contributed to illnesses like anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

“With the ‘beach body’ poster it was not so much the imagery as the message behind it that was wrong,” she said. “That unless you look like the model in the poster then you should not take your kit off on the beach.

“There is no single, beautiful body size. We are all different shapes and sizes.”

The “beach body” advert sparked 378 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority and a petition to ban it. Many ads were defaced by feminists who altered the slogan to read “every body is beach ready”.

However, the ASA ruled it was neither offensive or irresponsible.

Emma Gees, 24, a newly qualified doctor and a member of Advocate - the national youth panel for Girlguiding - said: “I have seen first-hand what can happen when someone has a poor body image. I have seen friends shrink in personality and become a shadow of their former selves, missing out on opportunities and not achieving their potential.

“I myself have spent years struggling with my body image and have spent more time than I can remember on diets. I used to think that if I was thinner or if I had longer legs I would be happier. I now know that how we look is not an indicator of our achievements or our happiness. We are all made differently and should celebrate these differences, not deplore them.”

A TfL spokesperson said it already rejected 300 out of the 11,000 ads that are submitted each year to its agents. “If an advertisement is not compliant, we have a process in place whereby our agent works with the advertisers to amend it,” she said. “We are very conscious of our responsibility to ensure that advertising on our network remains appropriate and we are in active discussion with our agents, advertisers and others to review our current approach.”