On Monday New Adventure Travel in Cardiff launched an advertising campaign using an image of passive, topless women and men covered by a placard reading “Ride me all day for £3”. This was in a bid to appeal to younger people, which has seriously backfired and the company withdrew the adverts on the same day.

Upon its launch, Twitter exploded with calls for the advert to be removed with one woman asking, “How am I going to explain this ad to my primary school kids?”

This question is an important one; how do we explain the cultural wallpaper of naked women, and increasingly, naked men, to our children? It may have become mundane and seem unimportant to some but these images impact upon us at a deep level; it’s why advertisers use them.

It is also why some countries have taken steps to prevent advertisers from using them.

In Norway there is both guidance and legislation which prevents advertisers from using naked bodies out of context.

Whilst the bus campaign pictured men too, it is still mainly women whose bodies are objectified. This controversy closely follows the outrage over Protein World’s billboards picturing a woman in a bikini with a similarly passive look. These repeated images serve to dehumanise and objectify women making them both the butt of jokes and allowing all women’s bodies to be judged by anyone, contributing to the rape culture which continues within our society.

As a society we need to demonstrate zero tolerance to this kind of treatment of both men and women.

Carmel Offord and Jessica Woodfall are feminists and activists for the No More Page 3 campaign. They recently founded Cut It Out UK which campaigns against everyday sexism.

@jesswoodfall @CarmelOfford