Breast lift? Liposuction? Tummy tuck? #youdontneedthis.

Every week, Jennifer Dawson rides the subway from her downtown apartment to Seneca College, where she teaches digital marketing. Lately, she almost always sees ads from the Toronto Cosmetic Clinic.

“As a woman, it can be bit infuriating to have to ride a subway on your daily commute and look at these posters,” Dawson says.

The ads, which promote procedures like liposuction and breast augmentation, feature images of stereotypically “beautiful” women: busty, glowing skin, flowing hair and almost always scantly clad.

After months of staring angrily at the ads, last week, Dawson was elated to see that someone had scrawled “you don’t need this” over one of them. Inspired, she added to the protest by reaching into her briefcase for a dry-erase marker last Thursday.

“It was very exhilarating — I’ve never vandalized before,” Dawson says. “I knew that I couldn’t leave the subway without doing it.”

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Dawson posted pictures of the defaced ads on Twitter and Instagram. The “#youdontneedthis” hashtag is just beginning to trend. Similar ads are also being defaced in cities such as New York.

The Toronto Cosmetic Clinic, however, was quick to defend its three-month-old ad campaign.

“A large majority of individuals are interested in enhancing their beauty and confidence with the help of elective surgical procedures,” Alina Tsymbalarou, the clinic’s office manager and a former Miss Universe Canada contestant tells the Star.

“With regards to our ads being defaced, everyone is entitled their own opinion, however it depends on what method they use to express it. Vandalism is not the best method.”

A more supportive note was sounded by Catherine Sabiston, the Canada research chair in physical activity and mental health at the University of Toronto. “I love seeing that people are actually doing these kinds of things,” she says.

“When people look at ads like this, they compare themselves to those women . . . They think that they’re not good enough or need to be better.”

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Sabiston, whose research focuses on body image and physical self, says constantly being bombarded by images like this can lead to long-term mental health problems, such as depression and drug use.

“It’s not a one-stop solution to all body image problems,” Sabiston says of cosmetic surgery. “It’s an external strategy — it doesn’t fix the interior.”

A TTC spokesperson warns that writing on a subway ad can be punishable with a fine. Still, Dawson says she’d gladly do it again.

“I don’t really consider it to be an act of vandalism,” she says. “It’s positive graffiti, and it’s encouraging social change.”