Do you think an advert featuring a bikini model and asking "Are you beach body ready?" is sexist?

A lot of people clearly do, with a petition calling for its removal collecting tens of thousands of signatures.

The Protein World advert, which appears in London Underground stations, is advertising the brand's weight loss collection.

It has upset a lot of people, with critics of the billboard starting the Twitter hashtag #everybodysready, and some sharing pictures of the poster with writing scrawled across it, such as "f*** off".

A change.org petition, which has more than 43,000 signatures, says: "Protein World is directly targeting individuals, aiming to make them feel physically inferior to the unrealistic body image of the bronzed model, in order to sell their product.

"Perhaps not everyone's priority is having a 'beach body' (by the way, what is that?), and making somebody feel guilty for not prioritising it by questioning their personal choices is a step too far.

"A body's function is far more intricate and important than looking 'beach ready', so in fact it is Protein World who have confused their priorities, if anyone."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it has received 216 complaints about the ad, and a spokeswoman said the general nature of the complaints is that the ad is "offensive, irresponsible and harmful because it promotes an unhealthy body image".

An investigation has not been launched but the ASA said they are "carefully assessing" the complaints to "establish if there are grounds for further action".

Protein World has hit back, with its head of marketing Richard Staveley saying: “Ultimately we want to encourage a healthier, fitter nation. We want to encourage everybody to be the very best version of themselves.

"It has been quite odd how many people we've found who are far quicker to fit shame than fat shame.”

He said there is "no concern" on behalf of the company regarding the petition.

"We won't be removing the ad. I mean, there's more than two and a half million people use the London Underground every day and, like I say, sales have considerably jumped, so regardless of that 40,000 I think I can comfortably say that we've had ... it's been better for us, there's been far more positive reaction than negative."

A Transport for London (TFL) spokeswoman said: "The advert submitted for display on our network by Protein World was approved as it complied with our advertising policy."