Anger as Costa Coffee uses cartoon image of ‘trans man’ with breast surgery scars on storefront: Angry customers now warn they will boycott liquor chain over ‘horrific imagery’

Costa Coffee was accused today/last night of glorifying “complex and dangerous surgery” by covering a van with a cartoon image showing mastectomy scars.

The UK’s largest coffee chain defended the use of the image to promote ‘inclusiveness and diversity’, but was labeled ‘crassy and irresponsible’ and ‘absolutely outrageous’ – and there were calls for a boycott of the company on social media.

The image, which depicts an androgynous-looking character in long shorts with scars under each nipple, comes from a mural designed by the chain for Brighton and Hove Pride last year.

The use of the image on a mobile coffee truck used at events across the country was condemned by feminist campaigners and people who had breasts removed for cancer.

Tanya Carter, spokeswoman for the Safe Schools Alliance campaign group for the protection of children, said: ‘It is almost unbelievable that Costa would do something so rude and irresponsible by using this image.

“The executives clearly have no idea what message this is sending, that irreversible surgery on healthy female breasts is to be welcomed. Is this really a way to sell coffee?’

Feminist writer Julie Bindel, who is concerned about the impact of trans activism on ‘vulnerable’ girls and young women, said: ‘I remember stories of a woman who was kicked out of a Costa store (in 2018) for discreetly breastfeeding .

“Can’t we breastfeed, but can you celebrate a woman having breasts removed because of social contagion and vanity?” It’s absolutely insane.

“What’s really scary about it is that the actual mastectomy scars are seen as a badge of honor, as cool.”

Ms Bindel said she feared the promotion of breast removal targeted young women who were dissatisfied with their bodies and did not identify with mainstream femininity.

She said, “I think back to how I was as a teenager, how I didn’t like my breasts. If I could have lost them I would have gone down that road.

“This dangerous ideology that you can mix and match your body by undergoing complex and dangerous surgeries is appalling.

‘We used to be shocked by cutting off healthy parts of our bodies. We have a duty of care towards those young people, often under the age of 18, who are children by law.

“I want the surgeons, scientists, those who advocate for and benefit from healthy breast removal to be criminalized.”

And Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder and director of Transgender Trend, which campaigns against the increase in children being referred to clinics for medical treatment for gender dysphoria, said she believes “teenage girls are being targeted” by the cartoon.

She said: “It’s been caught up under the Pride banner, being inclusive and celebrating diversity, but basically you’re encouraging kids to think they’re going to have to undergo unnecessary medical treatment that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

‘Companies that want to appeal to young people present trans cool, just like the trans lobby groups.

“This is being forced on children as if having major surgery is like changing clothes.”

A photo of Costa’s van was posted to Twitter yesterday afternoon by writer James Esses, a former Childline volunteer, who accused the chain of “glorifying irreversible surgeries in healthy women.”

Thousands of people responded and many said they would boycott the chain, which has nearly 2,800 UK outlets.

One woman wrote, “I had my breast removed because of breast cancer. (It was) very traumatic. How dare they promote it? This is insulting.’

Another said: ‘What the hell is Costa Coffee playing with by glorifying the mutilation of young bodies, which more than often leads to great regret in later life.’

For Women Scotland asked Costa Coffee on Twitter if they could understand how the ‘glorification and promotion of medically unnecessary mastectomies can be distressing and offensive to women who have had breast cancer’.

One user replied to this by writing: ‘Don’t you think @ForWomenScotland that downplaying such a serious procedure that is much more than ‘cosmetic’ is a mockery to the women who have had to endure the struggle to be with both to go and after such an operation? Why does @CostaCoffee like to ignore women?’

Laurence Fox commented: ‘Dear Costa Coffee, you promote the mutilation of healthy young girls. I hope you get boycotted.’

Tonight, Costa said the controversial image was ‘a snapshot of a wider mural commissioned last year’ for Brighton and Hove Pride, to ‘celebrate diversity and inclusion’.

The company, which was bought by Coca Cola in 2019 and is sponsoring East Sussex’s 2023 Pride event this weekend, said its Costa Express coffee van is ‘currently encased in part of the mural’.

A Costa Coffee spokesperson defended the decision to use the image, saying: ‘At Costa Coffee we celebrate the diversity of our customers, team members and partners.

“We want everyone who interacts with us to experience the inclusive environment we create, to encourage people to feel welcome, free and unashamedly proud to be themselves. The mural, in its entirety, shows and celebrates inclusivity.”