Modeling Agency Anti-Anorexia Campaign Reminds Girls “You Are Not A Sketch”

When it comes to fashion, image is everything.

But what if that image has been distorted and retouched to the point that one can no longer tell fact from fiction?

Star Models, a Brazilian-based modeling agency, has launched a new series of ads that challenge the very essence of what the fashion industry supposedly stands for: emaciated-looking women selling an impossible body image ideal.

Each of the images depicts two models: on the left is a typical fashion “sketch” of a woman wearing a particular item of clothing. On the right is a picture of a “real” model, with her proportions exaggerated to match the woman in the sketch. The visual effect is startling, as the real women appear even more gaunt and sickly looking than the typical modern fashion model. The tagline accompanying each ad is simple: “You are not a sketch.”

Critics of the “thinspiration” trend — where young girls and women idolize an unhealthy skinny ideal on blogs or social media outlets — hope that the ad campaign will send a powerful message about how unrealistic it is to aspire to meet such standards. Others, however, worry that the images will only further exacerbate the problem and give young women inspiration to become even thinner.

“It is a good campaign for young girls who have not yet succumbed to the thin culture of our country, to perhaps nip the tendency in the bud. But for those who are already truly anorexic, these models are their GOAL,” one commenter stated on The Daily Mail.

And while the “real” models have been airbrushed to make them look more like the sketches, the ad clearly asserts that, when it comes to the fashion industry, going too far for the sake of being skinny is no longer shocking anyone. And, clearly, that’s a problem.

Source: Daily Mail