ultra thin models
On the heels of complaints about a junior women’s fashion catalogue, La Maison Simons company president Peter Simons said he pulled the catalogue in a bid to remove images from that public domain that are unsuitable and don’t align with his company’s values.
The 36 page color catalogue with a print run of 450,000 features Simon’s TWIK brand and photographs of young women displaying more bone than flesh.
“Those images are destructive to a more vulnerable portion of the population which is exposed to anorexia,” Simons said.
Quebec Health Minister, Yves Bolduc congratulated the company for reacting promptly to complaints. “Anorexia is a serious issue and I think Mr. Simons did the right thing. It sends a message to the teenagers that they can be healthy, have a suitable weight and that they don’t need to be ultra-slim,” Bolduc said yesterday.
Dr. Steven Karp, Medical Director of Rosewood Centers for Eating Disorders in Wickenburg, AZ has treated thousands of patients suffering from an array of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge-eating. Anorexia is a disorder characterized by a distorted sense of body image, marked weight loss from self imposed starvation and a morbid fear of obesity.
“While advertising and media attention are not the cause of anorexia, they certainly are contributing factors and can be triggers”, commented Karp. “Anorexia is a serious illness, statistics tell us that 1% of female adolescents suffer from anorexia. The annual death rate associated with anorexia is more than 12 times higher than the annual death rate to all other causes combined for females between 15 and 24 years of age”.
Earlier this year, France adopted a bill that would criminalize the promotion of anorexia. The bill would make it illegal for anyone, including magazines, websites and advertisers, to promote or encourage extreme thinness or severe weight loss.
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