Zoopla accused of mocking 'Me Too' movement on tube advert

Anger on social media at Zoopla's advert appearing to mimic the 'Me Too' movement

Zoopla apologised for any 'offence taken' and says it has its usual 'tone of voice'

Property website Zoopla has been accused of trivialising and “hijacking” the #MeToo campaign raising awareness of sexual assault and harassment.

Commuters took to social media on Tuesday to demonstrate their anger at Zoopla's latest advert on London Underground, which pictures a line of crabs all replying "me too" in unison to one crab saying "I'm selling my house on zoopla".

The advert ends with one final crab apparently saying "copy crabs", alluding to the multiple times “me too” was mentioned by others.

One user said Zoopla was "hijacking a very sensitive campaign", while another Twitter user accused Zoopla of profiting from a "disgusting ad"

Leyla Hussein, a psychotherapist for survivors of sexual violence and female genital mutilation (FGM), told the Independent that Zoopla's advert could be a trigger for victims of abuse and accused the property website firm for "profiting from women's bodies".

"In such a climate (with Me Too), women are coming out all the time about abuse. Me Too is connected to women being assaulted", she said.

"I would love to know who sits in Zoopla's meetings and makes these decisions".

Ms Hussein called for Zoopla to remove the advert and donate money earned from the advert towards women who have suffered sexual assault and harassment.

"The aim of our latest ad campaign is to demonstrate, in our usual tone of voice, that Zoopla is a popular and well-known property website when selling or renting a home", said a Zoopla spokesperson.

"In no way was the advert intended to carry any other meaning or allude to any other context and we apologise for any offence it might have caused".

The Me Too movement was first started by activist Tarana Burke a decade ago, before the campaign resurfaced and snowballed in October last year on the back of allegations made by prominent film stars against Harvey Weinstein.

The phrase #MeToo began trending on Twitter and has since been posted by millions of Facebook users sharing their experience of sexual assault, harassment and discrimination.

Pepsi pulled a controversial advert last year featured Kendall Jenner appearing to trivialise protests and social justice causes on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In 2013, the soft drinks giant also pulled an advert for the soft drink Mountain Dew that was criticised for portraying racial stereotypes and appearing to make light of violence toward women.