Public health experts call for urgent attention to the extremely underweight model population in the US. Many categorize the issue under “workplace health and safety,” as the average body mass index (BMI) of an international runway model qualifies as starvation by the World Health Organization (Rancaño, 2015).
Researchers Katherine Record and S. Bryn Austin support government intervention requiring the model industry to implement BMI minimums. Advocates point to a French law passed in April, hoping to adopt a similar set of regulations and procedures. French agents cannot employ models under a BMI of 18, and face $82,000 in fines and six months in jail if they do not comply with the new standards. Isabelle Caro, a French model fighting anorexia, influenced the regulation’s implementation when she passed away in 2010 at 28 years old. According to NPR, other parts of the world such as Milan, Israel, Spain, and Italy also initiated BMI restrictions after the death of well-renowned models.
A study conducted by the University of Kent even found evidence supporting average-sized models as an advantage to the psychological effects of advertising. Dr. Xuemei Bian performed three studies involving female participants between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. The study utilized ads published by well-known advertising campaigns, as well as “fictitious new fashion brands” (Herrema, 2015). In each of the three scenarios, the women were instructed to select the size model they preferred to see in the advertisement. In established brands, a size zero waist had “little or no impact on product or model evaluation” (Herrema, 2015). In fact, without pre-conceived notions, women actually favored average-sized models in the fake brands. Research suggests the approval of normal sized women “was even more pronounced among the women taking part in the studies who considered themselves to have low self-esteem."
In addition to these efforts, others desire the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to “create worker protections like it does for other dangerous industries." The administration works with mining occupations, as exposure to coal positively correlates with an increase in lung disease. Similarly, “professional fashion models are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders resulting from occupational demands to maintain extreme thinness." Specifically, American researchers suggest the same minimum as France, meaning a 5-foot-9-inch model must weigh at least 122 pounds to legally work for a modeling agency. But what about the interests of the advertising industry? According to Dr. Renee Engeln, a paradox exists in which society must find a middle ground:
“Many women like looking at the very images they feel hurt by… Advertisers show images because we find them so compelling because they help to sell products. Much of the effectiveness of advertising rests on creating a sense of vulnerability in the consumer and offering a product to allay that vulnerability. We claim we want to see more realistic images, but we also like looking at beautiful people."
However, model Mekayla Diehl pays little attention to her minimums, as she avoids obsession “over being too skinny or not being tall enough." A contestant in the 2015 Miss USA pageant, she received positive media attention for proudly flaunting her size four body in the bikini competition. She “thinks the normality that everybody keeps talking about is just the fact that [she’s] relatable." Because young women idolize many pop culture figures, the opinions and physical appearance of celebrities and models contribute to shaping the outlooks of those exposed to their images.
Achieving reasonable government regulation of weight minimums will stop women from comparing themselves to these spotless images. The advertising companies still maintain the discretion of selecting attractive women to represent their brand, but their images will display physically fit role models like Diehl. Thus, women now experience a healthy form of peer pressure, rather than a drop in self-confidence. Government intervention in the model industry will rid of a false representation of reality, and weaken the relationship between advertising consumption and low satisfaction in self-esteem and appearance among women.
