Ed Gamble has responded to a restriction banning him from including a hot dog on his tour poster by substituting it with another phallic-shaped food item.
The 38-year-old comic is now promoting his forthcoming live stand-up tour, Hot Diggity Dog, which promises to feature his trademark ‘ranting, raving, and spluttering’.
It’s being billed as having him ‘mincing a load of meat (thoughts), piped it into a casing (show) and it’s coming to a bun (venue) near you’.
Although it makes sense that the ad depicts him drenched in ketchup and mustard with a half-eaten hot dog on a table in front of him, it was modified before reaching tube stations.
That was because having the scrumptious food item violated Transport for London’s advertising guidelines.
When the posters were submitted to TfL for exhibition on the Underground, the Off Menu podcast presenter advised them to change the graphic since it violated the organization’s advertising guideline of displaying meals heavy in fat, sugar, and salt.
He then switched the hot dog for a cucumber to show the promotional materials.
In an Instagram post, the comedian called it a ‘career milestone’.
‘TfL told me I couldn’t have a hot dog on my poster to promote my @hackneyempire shows in June. I guess I’m dangerous? So I’ve replaced it with a cucumber. Eat your greens, Kids!’ he wrote.
Although many people were bewildered by the ‘silly sausage rule’ and said they ‘didn’t understand’ it, many others made light of the situation.
‘If anything, they made you make a poster where you finished a meal without eating your greens,’ follower Max commented on the post.
The adjustments occurred after the posters had cost nearly £10,000 to design and produce.
However Ed said he didn’t ‘have a problem’ with the TfL regulations and they ‘make sense’ to him.
‘But the new posters promote something way more harmful – the idea that cucumbers pair well with ketchup and mustard,’ he shared.
‘I’m not sad to have to remove the hot dog, it was only featured on the poster because I wanted to eat during the photoshoot.
‘Hopefully it’s not too late to change the title of the show to Cu Diggity Cucumber?’
A spokesperson for TfL has also said it ‘welcomes all advertising on our network that complies with our published guidance’.
‘Following a review of the advertisement, we advised that elements would need to be removed or obscured to ensure it complied with our policy,’ they told the same publication.
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‘A revised advert is now running on the network and we are always happy to work with people to ensure adverts follow our policy.’
The prohibition on junk food advertising on London’s public transport network went into effect in 2019.
Regulations prohibit posters selling high-fat, salt, and sugar-containing foods and beverages from appearing on the Underground and Overground, as well as buses and bus shelters.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan stated at the time that the measures will assist to reduce the capital’s kid obesity rates.
