I'm frequently cynical, but I don't buy it for a minute. I think we do need to raise awareness in some way about anorexia, but I don't think that throwing up billboards that also advertise your company's clothing line is a particularly effective way of helping raise awareness. It strikes me as exploitative. Meh.

From the linked article: Caro, who also suffers from psoriasis, told Vanity Fair magazine she has longed to finally come out of hiding.

"I hid myself and covered myself up for too long," she said in the interview to be published on Wednesday. "Now I want to show myself without fear even though I know my body is repugnant."

I'm glad they quoted the model herself in the article, even though it wasn't a very long commentary.

Visually, the one image they showed in the article was a disturbing combination of modeling and public health campaign. Her pose is straight out of, well, Vanity Fair. Is the text enough to subvert the image? I'm not convinced.

I think this is damn stupid. First of all, she's actually just a touch underweight from the ideal runway model. god. The only good awareness add I'e seen was the last VICE magazine fashion issue. It was a drawn naked women. Your immediately drawn to her beautiful face and realise thats its attached to this this frail, anorexic body. It was wonderfully drawn in pencil... no one was objectified while dying. It was still thought provoking. Way to go Milan! It's not like they already weren't objectifying sick women... disgusting.

I couldn't really see what the problem was until roymacIII mentioned that it was being done for commercial purposes.

That just feels weird. Jessica, you should mention that explicitly in your write-up. IMO it's as important a point as objectification. If not more so.

You're right Ithika, my bad. I'm actually a little distracted because I'm blogging from the Clinton Global Initiative where I'm working today. So apologies.

My first reaction is that it's a great picture. It takes our mass obsession with thinness at the cost of all else and exposes its logical extreme. Namely, how unattractive and deadly it really is. Also, it brings the idea of anorexia into the spotlight. Then I read that it was meant to sell clothes. I think as a PSA, it's amazingly powerful. As something to sell shirts, I'm torn.

However, I have to bring up the comparison to Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty where they have normal looking women posing in various states of undress. Are those ads objectifying or empowering? I have to lean more towards empowering because they're demonstrating that just because you don't have a perfect body you don't need to cover up, but if this ad is objectifying then are they? I'm beginning to talk myself into it being a good way of exposing the truth behind the fashion industry.

I don't know. The reason anorexic is a bad way to be is not that it LOOKS bad, you know? Maybe that's the only way to reach anorexic women and girls who are obsessed with appearance, but I can't help seeing this as the flip side of the infamous Brazilian yogurt campaign.

Seeing as I'm about to be at work for several hours and won't be able to respond, I mean to clarify that I think her being posed as a model makes the ad better, because people are used to thinking of models as being the epitome of attractiveness. Having a woman that thin who most people wouldn't necessarily consider sexy posed in such a way is disturbing to the viewer and challenges their perceptions of beauty and thinness.

However, a reason why women begin to develop anorexia is they want to look good. A picture of a woman with intense anorexia who looks, well, unhealthy and skeletal and not at all attractive says "hey, not eating ever isn't going to make me a mega hottie, it's going to make me unhealthy and messed up." I don't know how I feel about it being used to sell clothing, that's just a little wrong to me. But I think the image doesn't objectify the woman, and I'm glad that it was her personal choice to do it. She thinks it is important and might help others, so I don't think she is being objectified, and I agree that as a PSA this works, but as an ad for clothes? not so much.

They just couldn't resist putting her in a sxxxy pose, could they? Why not the real picture? Why not a hospital gown, an IV, and visible gluteal veins?

I find the sexy/flirty look over the shoulder off-putting. If the wholesale objectification of women is part of the problem, I don't think further objectification is going to be the solution.

I would prefer to see a story about an anorexic who addressed her issues and had something to say about her life that went beyond a presentation of her physical being.

I saw this ad, and I don't like it. To me, it's just another media-deemed imperfect female body for us to all look at and be disgusted. Too big= you're disgusting. Too thin = you're disgusting. To me it's no different than featuring a large woman; just another way to make us all feel ashamed about our bodies.

However, a reason why women begin to develop anorexia is they want to look good. A picture of a woman with intense anorexia who looks, well, unhealthy and skeletal and not at all attractive says "hey, not eating ever isn't going to make me a mega hottie, it's going to make me unhealthy and messed up."

But if you look at pro-ana sites, that woman's body is, for many of those women, the epitome of looking good. Anorexia is much more complex than being soley about wanting to fit a cultural ideal of thinness.

Besides which, why exactly did she need to be completely nude to showcase her emaciation? Putting her breasts and buttocks on display in the context of a fashion billboard (even if it is ostensibly intended to put a spotlight on the issue of anorexia) smacks of objectification, and for many people who simply cannot separate a woman's body from sex (regardless of the context), it sexualizes this disorder.

"But if you look at pro-ana sites, that woman's body is, for many of those women, the epitome of looking good. Anorexia is much more complex than being soley about wanting to fit a cultural ideal of thinness."

exactly. theres thing in your head that tells you you've got to be thinner. A lot of people who are anorexic to even the stage of the women in the add, still feel they're over-weight. There is also the whole control thing.. totally seperate issue however..

"But if you look at pro-ana sites, that woman's body is, for many of those women, the epitome of looking good. Anorexia is much more complex than being soley about wanting to fit a cultural ideal of thinness."

exactly. theres thing in your head that tells you you've got to be thinner. A lot of people who are anorexic to even the stage of the women in the add, still feel they're over-weight. There is also the whole control thing.. totally seperate issue however..

A picture of a woman with intense anorexia who looks, well, unhealthy and skeletal and not at all attractive says "hey, not eating ever isn't going to make me a mega hottie, it's going to make me unhealthy and messed up."

Not necessarily, FemiDancer, not for a lot of women who are seriously ill. The cruel trick of eating disorders is that a) they mess with your head until logic and reason don't really apply, and b) even if it's all about "looking pretty" when it starts, by the end, it's far deeper and more involved than mere appearance.

My guess is that healthy women will look at that ad and say, "God, how hideous! I can't believe that any woman would want to look like that," and anorexic women will look at it and say, "God, what willpower. That's it; I'm upping my cardio to four hours tonight."

My guess is that healthy women will look at that ad and say, "God, how hideous! I can't believe that any woman would want to look like that," and anorexic women will look at it and say, "God, what willpower. That's it; I'm upping my cardio to four hours tonight."

As someone who's been on both sides of those perspectives, that is exactly what will happen. This will do nothing to help alleviate the problem, but everything to make it worse. And I love how its for a clothing line. My guess is they didn't really think it through much beyond, "Oh this will totally cause the controversy we need to get publicity!"

I know it may be hard to believe if you've nevered suffered from clinical anorexia, but many individuals with anorexia would look at this picture and find it inspirational.
I also disagree that when a person with anorexia desires to be thin, she is necessarily desiring to be "pretty" or "attractive" in any ordinary understanding of those words. Extreme thinness like this is celebrated on pro-ana sites, and I have no doubt that within days this picture will be popping up on a lot of those sites as "thinspiration." Anorexia is a pathology, not just a social disease.
Because of this, I think the ad (even if it had not been used to sell clothing) is still doing more harm than good.

isfa et al:

If you consider this approach to be counter-productive, then what would be an effective measure? If it truly is a clinical problem then no amount of motivational posters or encouraging TV spots are going to make a difference.

I think a frail person on lifesupport might help.

To me, this goes beyond whether or not its objectifying this woman and whatnot. Its her choice, let her do it. Good for her, even, for working up enough courage to show the world what a real anorectic looks like: sick and frail. It just seems like its pushing the wrong image of an eating disorder. Its not just something that you pick up because everyone else is doing it. It wouldnt get the same response if it were about depression or some other mental illness. We're just all obsessed with eating disorders, for whatever reason, and this is playing on it. This makes it seem like its just the next step on an anti-drug campeign.

What's next? "Hugs not anorexia"

Two things:

First, does this remind anyone else of the PETA ad from a few days back? The whole promoting a cause by using the body of a naked woman thing?

Second, I once saw an PSA where the legs of an anorexic woman were shown next to the legs of a Somali famine victim. They looked the same. Not having personal experience with anorexia, I wanted to ask if you all thought that this type of ad might be more effective.

ktorre:

It would seem that using the body of a woman is quite relevant when you're trying to show the effects of something on the body of women... otherwise you end up in the la-la land of those "digestive health" adverts which make oblique references to "regularity" while showing bowls of figs and prunes and middle-aged ladies wearing white trousers, while studiously avoiding the fact that the product is designed to make you shit. ;-)

So a fashion house is using an anorexic woman sell clothes, whilst making a cutting remark about fashion houses using supposedly anorexic looking women to sell clothes. Right. My head hurts.

I don't think any image of a frail person would be effective at getting across the "anorexia is bad, mmkay" message, because I don't think that any person who would be receptive to that message doesn't already see that image as negative. I think that really cutting down on eating disorders invovles a lot of messages.

I think that trying to shame people with ED into getting help with ugly images is counterproductive. I think the best anyone could do in that respect is publicizing some really compassionate service to the women (and men) who still have the clarity to recognize that they need help.

The best use of ad dollars, in my opinion, would be to reach the families and friends of people with EDs. Let them know that anorexia doesn't just look like that painfully skinny woman, make them aware of the early signs, teach them how to broach the subject cautiously, and give them resources to help them help their loved ones. And give them the true facts about ED, particularly that it's not all about vanity and wanting to be skinny (and, thus, that it's not something someone can just snap out of).

Beyond that, it's just a matter of changing public perception of body size, which goes way beyond one billboard - or even one Fashion Week - to the demands society places on celebrities, the language we use when we talk about weight, the food that's readily available and the prices at which it's available, the sexualization of the prepubescent form, the arbitrary connections we make between body size and career success, and on and on and on. One "ooh, she's icky billboard" is pretty much useless, in the long run, and can even be harmful.

*sigh* I feel kinda defeated with the whole anorexia/belemia thing. I grew up with it in my family and after seeing people afflicted go in and out of treatment for years, you start to lose the perspective on how you help someone.

Raising awareness is different thatn trying to convince dying women and girls that they're doing something wrong. This add doesn't really do anything to raise awareness other than shock some people and impress others. It's stupid.

There is no simple answer to solving the anorexia/belemia. All I can say is that it does start somewhere and that somewhere is an intense feeling to control ones life, the thinness thing is just a bi-product/adoption of our societies obsession. my opinion anyway.

I'm mad that they are using this image to sell clothing but I do think that it is an effective advertisement. What better way to show the visual effects of over-the-top annorexia than to have an actual annorexic woman pose. I think it would have been better if there was an annorexic man and woman but personally I think it is an effecive advertisement.
again- don't like the fact that its selling clothes too but i like it to raise awareness

i don't know, maybe the ad would induce something more than an eye roll from me if the clothing line in question stopped hiring models who are 5'10 and 95 pounds to wear their clothes on the runway.

i know, i know, models are supposed to be "human hangers" but i just think that how disproportionate the model is often distracts me from what she's wearing. i would really like to design clothes someday and use more realistic body types to show them off.

I think the photographer is purposely making a statement here by placing these pictures of an obscenely thin woman in a ad to sell clothing.

The intended audience here is not the anoexic. The intention is not to directly help them by forcing them to stare at the ugly reality of the disease they endure. The audience is rather photographers, fashion designers, and the fashion industry at large who support "sexified" images of severely thin women to sell clothing, accessories, beauty products, etc. I think this is meant to say to them, "Look, fashion industry. You are dangerously close to promoting images like this and in essence causing the death of real people, the death of healthy body image and, ultimately, the death of the soul of our society at large...and for what? To sell a pair of jeans? Nice."

I think the photographer's statement here in the ad space is meant to be ironic.

I think it's nothing but a shock advertising scheme. Several posters have already pointed out that many anorexic women (or girls who are *trying* to become anorexic) use these types of images on purpose. I'll be entirely honest, I was bulimic for years and the culture and glamor and excitement that this type of sensationalist view of eating disorders gives women with eating problems was part of the draw. The idea that bulimia was someone uncontrollable beast just encouraged me to delay treatment, and I never looked like that. Severe eating disorders are a problem, but they effect only a tiny part of the population: why are magazines and tv movies and psychologists and teenage girls so fascinated with them? Why not pay more attention to the negative thoughts and habits that effect thousands of women?
Most people with eating disorders don't look like that, just like most drug addicts don't look like addicts do in the movies. These images both glamorize the extreme disorders and convince people who have problems that they don't. They make people say:
"I don't look like that...my throwing up must not be a problem. That's what real eating disorders look like."
or even
"If she can starve herself to look like that, surely I can starve myself into an ideal, size 4, body."
or
"Wow, that's so tragic. Eating disorders are so fascinating...how's so and so's diet going anyway?"

This ad will never, however, make anyone go "gee, maybe I have a problem" or "yay, I love my body now."

Ithika (et al):
Perhaps this clothing company could (as some posters suggest) hire healthy models itself (revolutionary!). Or perhaps it could put its charitable contributions toward ED research/ treatment centers. Perhaps they could advocate for better medical coverage for eating disorders. Maybe they could sponsor a forum for the fashion industry to address some of these issues.

Blaming fashion for all eating disorders is like blaming the alcohol industry for all alcoholism. There's a correlation, but it's not a true cause/effect for most people with the disease.

I don't think rail-thin models are helping anything, however I don't think they're the root cause, either. This photographer and this company are taking it a step further by sensationalizing anorexia.

What is the campaign's goal? To raise awareness about eating disorders? To challenge the fashion industry? Maybe I'm being cynical, but it's quite possible that even if every person who works in high fashion saw this picture, nothing would change because their models simply don't look like this actress. I just don't think this company has a sincere desire to do anything other than shock, and there's no sense in applauding them for being sensationalist.

I am glad to see that people are talking about how people suffering with an eating disorder would view the ad. There are several problems with the ad as I see it. I completely agree that people with anorexia are not attempting to be beautiful, it is more about attempting to control impulses that are natural (i.e. hunger and eating). I read a great article in Bitch magazine a while back that talked about how some of the "educational" television programs on eating disorders (like on lifetime) received a lot of pressure from advocacy groups to drop programming because the effect was that it actually results in increasing the problem through showing new tricks (like on the pro ana sites) or giving a comparison (I could be that thin if I just...).
As far as the cloting company goes, I think a lot of times companies do something to appear to be contributing to the solution when they haven't actually even researched where that money would best be spent, they are simply improving their own image. If they wanted to do something to help, then they should consider helping to change the model industry by not looking for the "ideal thin" beauty image that is the standard in the field. Or give the money that they would have spent on that campaign to donate to research or treatment of eating disorders.
I also agree that it is incredibly objectifying. To sell clothing by showing a naked woman is to me the epitome of using sex to sell a product...even if she is suffering from an eating disorder. I think it would be more easily recognized as such if it were a car or beer ad. Either way, I don't trust the "corporation" as a benefactor at all. If it were a person, and not a soul-less entity, we would expect much more, I think. If a person spent all of their time contributing to the alcoholism of minors, for example, and then suddenly decided to put an ad in the newspaper about how bad the problem was, people would point to the inconsistencies in the behavior. I think we need to do the same for the corporation.

I think it is a horrible ad.

It basically links an image of an anorexic woman with a prestigious fashion label. I think that is likely to reinforce the notion that anorexia is positive and edgy - I think the image burns longer than the little phrase.

Show the true consequences, like the hospital gown some people suggested, and then I might consider it a positive move.

I'm sitting here eating my vegetarian tomato, basil, hazelnut pizza and thinking, "This should be the last piece."

Then this article made me sick to my stomach and I know I won't be having any more tonight.

As an artist, second only to the curve of a woman's breast, my favourite line on the human body is the depression in a one's back indicating the spine. I consider it one of my own best features. It's something I worry about losing because I want to look young and healthy.

Looking at her my heart sank. She's not ugly, though I admit to a certain morbid fear of her collapsed frame, and I don't revile or pity her. What bothers me is that she represents the ideal of beauty for so many people all over the Western world.

As much as anyone I want to draw beautiful people. Though I'm aware my ideas of beauty are highly subjective, I like to think that they're based on positive attitudes about the human body. What saddens me is that people like me are apparently rare enough to produce people like her.

Blaming fashion for all eating disorders is like blaming the alcohol industry for all alcoholism.

Coming from a family of alcoholics, I have to derail for a second, and pick a nit.

The alcohol industry has a correlation to alcohol abuse, but alcoholism is something people are born with. It is physiological, and can sometimes take a while to manifest, but it doesn't develop over time. An alcoholic is born and will die an alcoholic. The reason true alcoholics (not alcohol abusers) can't ever embibe again is b/c with every drink their brains build up a very specific chemical at the place where the spinal cord connects to the brain. This chemical accumulates; it never leaves the body. With each drink an alcoholic takes, they are closer to their alcoholism's manifestation, and if they ever take a drink again after getting sober they just pile on more of that chemical until they eventually drink themselves to death. That's why an alcoholic who gets sober is always a recovering alcoholic. You never get rid of alcoholism.

Sorry...I won't bring it up again, but a lot of people use the term alcoholism to describe alcohol abuse, and it causes misunderstanding when interacting with people who have the disease.

Done, for reals this time.

but alcoholism is something people are born with

There is no concrete evidence to suggest that alcoholism (a poorly defined term at the best of times) is genetic. If you've been hiding this evidence, the world's medics (and especially psychiatrists who have to deal with the fallout of alcohol) would really like to know what it is.

"An alcoholic is born and will die an alcoholic."

So a 5 year old could be an alcoholic even if she or he never had alcohol, and could still be an alcoholic at age 35 even if she or he still hasn't had any alcohol (whether for religious reasons or something else)?

Mina: Yep. My mother is in recovery, and so are most of my family on her side. It is genetic. I've learned a lot by taking an active role in supporting my mother's recovery. When I say an alcoholic is born and will die an alcoholic, I don't mean that they will forever be out of control with alcohol. I mean it in the same sense that I would talk about any congenital disease. There isn't a cure for alcoholism; there are great treatments.

People who have experience treating, recovering from, living with, and being around alcoholics know that it isn't poorly defined. Alcohol abuse is used interchangeably with alcoholism, but they aren't the same thing. Alcohol abuse is not genetic; alcoholism is. And of course I'm not hiding the evidence; I'm speaking from experience and what I've learned from professionals who treat alcoholics.

Back to eating disorders.

I am hopeful someone else already mentioned this but - these images also have potential to support woman who are anorexic by providing a "goal" type image. There are websites dedicated to this type of thing. Although I don't always believe a woman is being objectified, she may have made a conscious informed choice to participate in the project. Whatever her choice we should respect it and her right to make that choice.

Kissmypineapple, I actually think I agree with you more than I disagree. I think many people are naturally more likely to develop eating disorders (combination of genetics and environment) and I don't think someone ever stops recovering from an eating disorder. I know there are a lot of models for alocoholism and eating disorders (and a lot of dispute in the clinical community), but I'm in the camp that an eating disorder is a physiological addiction. That's why I draw the analysis... some people can drink occasionally without abusing alcohol or developing clinical alcoholism. Other people can't. But either way, the companies Miller and Budweiser aren't CAUSING alcoholism. Some people can look at fashion magazines (and even feel bad about their bodies) without it fueling an eating disorder, but Conde Nast isn't CAUSING eating disorders. Some women in recovery make a conscious effort to avoid all fashion mags, and find it helpful to staying healthy. I think it is generally better for society to have healthy looking models, but I also don't blame fashion for causing my eating disorder. For that, I blame genetics and environment. For my recovery, I thank (in part) my ability to steer clear of things that trigger unhealthy thoughts.

This makes me so sick I could scream. As a woman that has spent many hard years recovering from anorexia and bulimia, I am DEEPLY OFFENDED.

How should I start? First off, these photos are EXTREMELY triggering. Those who have suffered, or worse, are currently suffering from anorexia don't see someone who is sick or disgusting. Sure, they know WE'RE disgusted, but they're not horrified by the prospect of becoming like this anorexic. They see someone who is THINNER than them (which usually, in the anorexic mind, equates to "better," "stronger," or someone with "more conviction" than them), and who is getting international ATTENTION for it. They see her glamorous poses, and envy the shadows her ribs cast, the frailty of her limbs, and the immense "self-control" it took to get there (in all reality, eating disorders are an attempt at control that takes over every aspect of life and becomes a completely out-of-control obsession that they can't stop). They say, "wow, if only I could be that thin... famous fashion photographers would take pictures of me, and like this woman, all the world stare in horrified amazement at what I can do, what I have become."

Second, if this is meant to show the how "disgusting" and terrible anorexia is, then why is the sufferer posed so glamorously? (I guess showing autopsy photos of deceased anorexics wouldn't be good for selling clothes. Neither would showing an anorexic covered in linugo(basically fur that the body grows to keep warm when fat sources are depleted), or one with a hunch-back because of the effects of osteoporosis due to starvation, or perhaps an anorexic whose hair is falling out in clumps? No, can't sell clothes that way). This photo is NOT composed to make anorexia look less appealing... stay with me a minute....

So, we're all feminists here, we know that the "ideal" woman used to have curves. So how did it change? MEDIA PORTRAYAL OF THE IDEAL WOMAN CHANGED. In the 60's, when designers were creating psychedelic clothes, they were upset that instead of commenting on the apparel, viewers noticed the beauty or figure of the models. The solution? Get 'human hangers.' Yep, those were the words: HUMAN CLOTHES - HANGERS. The world was shocked and appalled when Twiggy was made a fashion model... but now Twiggy looks like a well fed and voluptuous woman compared to the skeletal models currently haunting the fashion world.

So, the world is shocked and appalled by the appearance of this woman NOW, but will she be the Twiggy of the 2040s?

I think this is an attempt by the fashion industry to save face: "hey look, we're raising awareness about anorexia! please don't write bad things about us in your editorials!" Like a fucking cigarette company creating a lung cancer awareness ad. No, the fashion industry doesn't cause EDs, but they sure as hell promote them.

Either way, I'm sure this ad is currently all the rage on pro-ana sites... this is the kind of thinspiration they look for.

Right on, celtic lass, right on.

Those are powerful points you are making.

Isfa, I totally get what you're saying, and you're right, we agree more than we disagree. I wasn't trying to attack your analogy, b/c you're correct in that the fashion world doesn't cause eating disorders, but can really reinforce them for women who have them. I just wanted to differentiate between alcoholism and alcohol abuse, b/c I even see commercials that use them interchangeably, and it does a disservice to people who are alcoholics. When they see that some people can just kick the alcohol abuse almost like its nothing, it's really frustrating for people who have a physiological problem...which you already know, I'm sure. I just wanted to clarify why I brought it up in the first place; I definitely agree with your post.