Media too often portrays issues as black and white, leaving out the gray areas in between. You're either Republican or Democrat, a dog lover or a cat lover, skinny or fat. But, what we too often forget is that the far majority of us lie in between these two extremes.
Why is the media so focused on dividing models into "regular" models (typically extremely thin) and plus-sized? Why must we label models as plus-sized when we don't call other models zero-sized or thin models? Why can't we just call all models, models?
In addition to this division in the labeling of models, clothing stores are also divided, both in-store and online. If you're "plus-sized," your clothing sizes are located in a whole different store of the same brand name.
Why do we have this separation? Why can't we forget these labels and have the clothes on the rack go from sizes 0-26? Why aren't the same clothes available in all sizes?
"Regular" models in the majority of advertisements selling brand names are not the majority of women actually buying the clothing or products in the advertisement.
A study by business professors at Villanova found that college-aged women are more likely to purchase products from advertisements portraying thin models, but felt worse about themselves after seeing the advertisements.
The women who saw the images of the thin models were four times more likely to turn down Oreos after their participation in the study than women who had not seen the advertisements.
Another study by Modeling Agent Ben Barry found that women were more likely to buy clothing modeled by women closer to their own age, size and race.
Since most women are not a size zero or between the ages of 15 and 23, "regular" models may not be inspiring women to shop more.
I'm not arguing that thin models aren't beautiful, because they are. I'm not arguing that plus-sized models aren't beautiful, because they are. There's absolutely nothing wrong with advertisements portraying images of beautiful women, whether they be a size 0 or 26. The problem occurs when we see women with the same body type over and over again and lack images of women that we can identify with.
All I'm asking is to see, on a regular basis, people of all shapes, sizes and colors portrayed in the media. Although some companies, such as Dove and their "Campaign for Real Beauty" are improving their campaign to focus on "real" beauty, both inside and out, advertisements and the fashion industry still have a long way to go.
