AN anti-litter campaign launched by Essex councils and fast-food franchises has been branded sexist by feminist campaigners.

The poster campaign, launched under the “Love Essex” banner, involves Bin Your Litter posters at bus stops countywide.

But the posters have angered women’s groups, because they urge men to be “smart” but women to be “pretty”.

Two versions of the poster depict them holding fast-food containers, with the slogan “Bin Your Litter”.

One has a man, dressed in a suit, with the tagline, “it’s the smart thing to do”, while the version with the woman carries the line, “it’s a pretty quick thing to”.

Mum Natalie Collins, 31, spotted the posters at a bus stop outside McDonald’s, in the town and was horrified.

She said: “I was driving past the other day and I just thought to myself, ‘for goodness sake!’ “I do lots of feminist activism, so I’m quite primed to notice these sorts of things.

“Some people are saying it means ‘smart’, meaning welldressed, rather than intelligent, but women experience the issue of pretty versus smart all the time.

“Even in terms of comparison, it’s just a horrendous advert. I don’t know what they were thinking.

“I have a 12-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son and this is not a message I want them to see.”

The Love Essex anti-littering campaign was started last year by Essex councils, Keep Britain Tidy, the Highways Agency and fast-food chains McDonald’s, KFC and Domino’s Pizza.

The publicity is intended to raise awareness of littering and the risk of fines for offenders.

Love Essex claims last summer’s campaign led to a 40 per cent decrease in the amount of fast food litter on the county’s streets.

Message ‘is not about gender’ 

THE wording on the posters is not intended to refer to the gender of the models involved, says the campaign organiser Love Essex.

The campaign is led by Braintree Council, and a spokesman said: “The choice of wording on them was not intended to apply exclusively to the gender of the accompanying models.

“The key message is a call to action, it is about asking people to dispose of their litter responsibly.

“The council has been in touch with people to address concerns on social media.”