Protein World keep on digging and digging over that beach body advert

Today in 'oh, great...' news, the company behind a 'body-shaming' advert that has angered many is celebrating what it says is a successful campaign.

Protein World's 'beach body ready' advert has attracted criticism online and been defaced on the Tube.

But the company's head of marketing has insisted the response has been "fantastic".

Richard Staveley was on Sky News this morning where he said the company has an 84 per cent female customer base.

"I think it's fair to say we weren't expecting this level of exposure," he said, "but, it's fantastic."

Protein World has spent the days since the poster began attracting attention responding to critics on social media, often in a provocative fashion, including urging someone who had written a letter about the controversy to put it "in the nearest bin" and branding detractors as "irrational extremists" and "terrorists".

But when asked whether he regretted the company's response, Staveley said "absolutely not".

We've created a brand with a real personality. We're not a faceless corporation. There will be times when that potentially sails quite close to the wind. But, I certainly don't regret any of the approach we take.

This might have something to do with Protein World CEO Arjun Seth saying his team had received a bonus.

Meanwhile, Katie Hopkins has inexorably gotten involved, gravitating towards online controversies like a professional troll is drawn to a column in a tabloid newspaper.

The moral of the story?

More: [Everyone is still really angry about this beach body advert but the diet company says it's just a minority 'making noise']2