A comedian has been forced to remove a picture of a hot dog from posters promoting his stand-up tour after falling foul of Transport for London’s (TfL) advertising policies.
Ed Gamble used an image of the popular barbecue staple in advertising posters for his upcoming Hot Diggity Dog tour.
But when the billboards were sent to TfL for display on the London Underground, the stand-up comic was told to alter the poster because it failed to comply with the organisation’s advertising policy on junk foods.
So the 38-year-old, who recently starred as the host of the Traitors: Uncloaked, improvised by offering to replace the hot dog with a cucumber.
“I actually don’t have a problem with the TfL regulations, they make sense to me,” he said.
“But the new posters promote something way more harmful – the idea that cucumbers pair well with ketchup and mustard.
“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?”
In a post on Instagram, he described the incident as a “career highlight” and added: “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!”
A spokesperson for TfL said: “We welcome all advertising on our network that complies with our published guidance.
“Following a review of the advert, we advised that elements would need to be removed or obscured to ensure it complied with our policy.
“A revised advert is now running on the network and we are always happy to work with people to ensure adverts follow our policy.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Read more from Sky News:
Taylor Swift’s father faces ‘no further action’ over assault allegation
‘Nothing worse’ than young women having cosmetic procedures, says Katie Price
The ban on junk food advertising across London’s public transport network came into force in 2019.
Regulations forbid posters for food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar on the Underground and Overground, as well as buses and bus shelters.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the rules would help tackle child obesity rates in the capital.
The organisation uses a model developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to define foods high in fat, sugar and salt.
