Eating Disorder Awareness

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has launched a powerful and provocative new advertising campaign that forces readers to see eating disorders from a unique perspective … Through the eyes of someone suffering with the disease.

As part of the extensive print, online, viral and out-of-home campaign, some of the images/ headlines include:

• • A belt with a nearly microscopic diameter asking How did it go from losing weight to losing hope?
• • A monstrous strawberry skewered on a fork with The Monster Isn’t Under the Bed. It’s in the Fridge.
• • A toilet seat cover as a place setting with What’ll We Lose on This Diet? Lots of People Every Year.
• • A scale with a lone bean with It Weighs Almost Nothing. Just like the Girl Who’s Having it for Lunch.

Other headlines:

• • For Many Young Girls, There’s Something Even More Repulsive Than Boys
• • You Know How Much Time Your Daughter’s on the Computer. But What About the Bathroom Scale?
• • An Image Problem Can Kill a Politician and, as it Turns Out, a Little Girl

In 1965, the average fashion model weighed just eight percent less than the average American woman while the average fashion model today is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds, which makes her thinner than 98 percent of women. Three-quarters of the female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight. Yet the average woman stands 5’4”, weighs 140 pounds and wears between a size 12-16. We know that continued exposure to unrealistic images is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls. Genetics may load the gun, but society pulls the trigger.