Tokyo Metro says ‘no’ to nude Britney Spears

The Tokyo Metro is busy combating lewdness. And by lewdness I mean the above photo of Britney Spears. Oh dead lord, it’s so offensive I can barely stand looking at it! Mainichi has the story:

On the occasion of the sixth anniversary of publishing the Japanese edition of Harper’s Bazaar, HB Japan planned to place six kinds of advertisements at Omotesando Subway Station. They include one using the cover of its October issue that carries a nude photo of Spears. It then submitted the advertisements to Tokyo Metro through an advertising agency in mid-July for screening.

Tokyo Metro officials deemed the advertisement carrying the nude photo of Spears constitutes a violation of its in-house guidelines for advertisements, which states that advertisements must be appropriate in view of the protection of youths.

The subway operator then advised the publisher to cover part of her body below the elbow.

The publisher protested the order. “We can’t advertise our magazine unless we use the same image as its cover. It will certainly draw attention from the public. Since we’ve already completed the advertisement, we can’t change it.”

After holding negotiations with Tokyo Metro, the company reluctantly agreed to cover part of the nude photo below the stomach.

The cover bears the message, “We apologize for covering part of the image of a beautiful future mother. In this place, we can’t show the same image (as the magazine), so we made the change.”

Those damn magazines, trying to put vile pornography on the Tokyo subway! Here’s the new, censored version of the advertisment:

Excellent. People are now shielded from the offensive image of a pregnant woman. If there’s anything Japan needs in this time of falling population, it’s pro-pregnancy images.

Update: As our readers have noted, the Tokyo Metro reversed its decision and will now show the uncensored image.