Protein World makes £1 million immediately after the 'Beach Body Ready' campaign backlash

Protein World, a little known British diet shakes and supplements company that only launched 18 months ago
, apparently made around £1 million ($1.5 million) in four days after being unintentionally boosted by enormous backlash from "body shaming" campaigners over an advert.
Protein World only spent £250,000 ($384,589) on a range of billboards (as pictured) in a number of London underground stations.
It led to a huge backlash from feminists and groups that campaign against "body shaming." They claim that the wording in the advert insinuates that this is only type of body that is "acceptable" to be on the beach and that any other variation is deemed "unready."
Campaigners detailed the defacing of the posters on Twitter and even stripped to their bikinis to voice their dissent over the advert:
#beachbodyready ? NO @ProteinWorld we are #beachbodyALREADY ✌️ pic.twitter.com/o5gmQGBOZ4
— Tara Costello (@Catstello) April 22, 2015
Another one of those adverts... Another little addition from me... #beachbodyready
pic.twitter.com/9MILYZ7pKA
— Nicole (@NicoleBurstein) April 23, 2015
This is what I think of @ProteinWorld 's advert.... #proteinworld #beachbodyready #eachbodysready pic.twitter.com/vUUwuEu7Yt
— Laura Stevens (@Laura_Stevens1) April 23, 2015
At least one person on the tube has common sense @EverydaySexism #beachbodyready
pic.twitter.com/DylkIJr0MN
— Anna Pujol Mazzini (@annapmzn) April 22, 2015
In fact, the backlash is so huge that a Change.org petition calling for the advert to be removed reached more than 50,000 signatures and a demonstration in Hyde Park will be held at 3 p.m on May 2 in “celebration of all things beautiful”.
However, what the protesters probably don't realise is that the press coverage has apparently boosted direct sales revenue by £1 million ($1.5 million) over the last few days, according to online right-leaning news website Breitbart
and an interview with an ad expert in Marketing Magazine
.
Alex Smith, planning director at agency Sense, even went as far as to say that
Protein World's campaign could be seen as a "stroke of genius" due to the mass press coverage and direct boost in sales
.
Protein World's representatives had not returned with comment or confirmation on the numbers cited above to Business Insider at the time of publication