Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Ban of too-skinny Models in Ads


In Israel, about 1,500 children and teens are diagnosed with eating disorders annually. Because of the high number of people with eating disorders, a law has been passed that bans the use of underweight models (with a body mass index of 18.5 or less) in advertising. It also bans agencies from altering their pictures to make the models look thinner without telling the audience. While some modeling agencies are not happy, Adi Barkan said, "This is such a happy day for me, and it should be for everyone in the modeling business. All over the world, 20 years ago, we saw girls who were skinny, but today we see girls who are too, too skinny," he said. "They are dying. The business only wants the skinny girls. So the girls, they stop eating. It's terrible. We must be more responsible and say to them that it doesn't have to be that way." There is no consequence for using an underweight model, but parents of children with eating disorders will be able to sue the agency if they feel that the cause of the disorder was from the advertisement. Hopefully the rate of eating disorders will go down because of the new law.



2 comments:

  1. should they ban a body mass index of over weight too? I mean come on.

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  2. I agree that the World's obsession with being thin is inane, Marilyn Monroe was a size 14 and I personally find curvy girls much less recognized and much more attractive, but what about the models who are naturally skinny? No girl should be punished for being her natural healthy body weight, I think rather that there should be more of a variety of body types in advertising and modeling agencies should be more accepting of all body types. Everyone should.

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