News From Elsewhere

Image copyright Qianjiang Evening Post

A Chinese restaurant has come under fire for offering discounts to women depending on their bra size, it's reported.

According to the Qianjiang Evening Post, local people complained to the council after seeing posters advertising discounts for the Trendy Shrimp restaurant at a mall in Hangzhou, the main city of coastal Zhejiang province.

The company's adverts showed a line-up of cartoon women in their underwear with the slogan "The whole city is looking for BREASTS". It listed discounts for women depending on their cup size, with greater offers available to women with bigger busts.

One representative complaint said the posters were "vulgar advertising" and "discriminatory towards women".

The posters first appeared on 1 August and have since been removed, but Trendy Shrimp general manager Lan Shenggang defended their sales strategy. "Once the promotion started, customer numbers rose by about 20%," he said, adding that "some of the girls we met were very proud - they had nothing to hide".

He reassured readers that customers could claim their discounts from the waitresses rather than dealing with male staff, in order to "avoid embarrassment".

This is not the first time that a restaurant in China has offered discounts based on appearance. In January 2015, a restaurant in Henan rewarded diners it deemed "good-looking", a month after an eatery in Chongqing gave discounted food to overweight men and thin women.

Reporting by Kerry Allen

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