Ad Campaign In Italy Prompts Young Girls Not To Diet To Death
In the news today, the United Colors of Benetton unveiled a new advertisement featuring a 27-year old French woman who has struggled with anorexia for fifteen years with a caption of "No to Anorexia". It is perhaps the boldest move yet by a company known for its controversial statements. (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23413683-details/Italian+fashion+company's+new+fight+on+size+zero/article.do)
To see the reality of anorexia, up close and personal on a billboard must be quite shocking to the people hurrying to catch a bus, a subway train or a taxi. No longer can the world of fashion deny that THIS is the message many believe it is sending about what is "beautiful".
I found the photo this ad is using (it's on the link above) and stared at it for a long time. I tried to imagine the pain this young lady must be in to allow herself to get to such a point. Such misguided discipline. Such sacrifice.
And I wonder about the photographer that took this photo. How did he find this young lady to spread such an effective and relevant message? How was this photo shoot different than others he had done? What did he think about his subject, quite unlike any other model he'd ever shot, I'm sure.
And I thought about the woman herself. Talk about being vulnerable in the eyes of the world! I cannot imagine the courage it took for her to stand up and claim her disorder in such a profound way. Her willingness to be "real" will, I imagine, save more lives than she could have ever imagined.
I hope that this campaign fulfills what ad execs hoped it would: bring a disorder out of the shadows and expose it for what it really is. How many people have heard about anorexia and never seen it? How many people hate their bodies so strongly they are willing to punish it relentlessly?
And I think about how incredibly resilient the human body is. Here we have an example of a machine that has literally been starved of the nutrition it needs to survive, but it's still surviving. After fifteen long years, it hasn't given up. It continues to move, one step at a time, one breath at a time.
The scary part is, that may be all that's left.
I hope this woman gets the help she seems ready to receive. "I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is."
She has. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this one clearly says them all.
To see the reality of anorexia, up close and personal on a billboard must be quite shocking to the people hurrying to catch a bus, a subway train or a taxi. No longer can the world of fashion deny that THIS is the message many believe it is sending about what is "beautiful".
I found the photo this ad is using (it's on the link above) and stared at it for a long time. I tried to imagine the pain this young lady must be in to allow herself to get to such a point. Such misguided discipline. Such sacrifice.
And I wonder about the photographer that took this photo. How did he find this young lady to spread such an effective and relevant message? How was this photo shoot different than others he had done? What did he think about his subject, quite unlike any other model he'd ever shot, I'm sure.
And I thought about the woman herself. Talk about being vulnerable in the eyes of the world! I cannot imagine the courage it took for her to stand up and claim her disorder in such a profound way. Her willingness to be "real" will, I imagine, save more lives than she could have ever imagined.
I hope that this campaign fulfills what ad execs hoped it would: bring a disorder out of the shadows and expose it for what it really is. How many people have heard about anorexia and never seen it? How many people hate their bodies so strongly they are willing to punish it relentlessly?
And I think about how incredibly resilient the human body is. Here we have an example of a machine that has literally been starved of the nutrition it needs to survive, but it's still surviving. After fifteen long years, it hasn't given up. It continues to move, one step at a time, one breath at a time.
The scary part is, that may be all that's left.
I hope this woman gets the help she seems ready to receive. "I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is."
She has. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this one clearly says them all.