Anorexia billboard taken down by city officials

3rd October 2007

Anorexia billboard taken down by city officials

posted in Eating Disorders, Pop Culture |

Remember the Italian clothing company which recently debuted billboard signs showing Frenchwoman Isabelle Caro, an anorectic who weighs 68 pounds, in a so-called effort to promote eating disorder awareness?

Now the mayor of Milan has ordered that the advertisement be taken down from billboards controlled by the city. The adverts will continue to be shown on privately-owned billboards.

No word on why the mayor made this decision, but the article notes that the billboards have sparked a fierce debate in Italy. If you remember, super-skinny models were banned from Madrid Fashion Week last year. The ban covers girls with a body mass index of below 18 — 18.5 to 25 is considered to be “normal.” In Milan, models must now carry medical certificates to prove they are healthy.

In my previous post about this issue, I admitted I was straddling the fence. On one hand, the advertisement, which features Caro’s frail, emaciated naked body, offers a shocking look at the ravages an eating disorder can exact on at least the physical body (I would argue its toll on the mind is much more severe). Caro says she found the experience to be empowering, and I’m truly glad that she was able to impart this strength.

But then again, the contrarian in me can’t help but notice that the ad isn’t altogether altruistic in its endeavor – it’s still selling a product, and using (exploiting?) anorexia to do so. And the ad can also be misleading, suggesting that this is what an eating disorder looks like, when in truth, women of all sizes who have eating disorders are at risk of developing serious health problems, and even death. You don’t have to weigh 68 pounds for a disorder to be life-threatening.

What are your thoughts?

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1 On October 3rd, 2007, Fillyjonk said:

God, I didn’t even think about that aspect… I was already feeling ambivalent about it because yes, it’s shocking, but I’m not sure I like being asked to find a woman’s body shocking or horrific.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm

2 On October 3rd, 2007, Miss Janey said:

AH! Good point. Miss Janey is in treatment for an ED & she has never been anywhere NEAR 68 lbs, nor has she been morbidly obese. She sees the disbelieving look in peoples’ eye when she confides her problem. People expect you to LOOK a certain way if you have an ED. What we need to realize is that the issue is the BEHAVIOUR- the obsession w/ food, over-exercising, the negative self-talk, and much more. Still, she can relate to the woman in the ad because she recognizes the internal torment that isn’t always visible to others. People see someone who is that emaciated & they think, “Oh, boy. She’s ill.” Contrarily, when they see someone who is obese, which in Miss J’s opinion MIGHT by symptomatic of an ED (caused by bingeing but NOT purging)… they don’t think, “Wow, she’s ill, poor thing.” They feel disgust and often have no problem expressing it.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm

3 On October 3rd, 2007, Rachel said:

When my eating disorder became unmanageable and I confided in a good friend, she asked me if I thought I could have an eating disorder. My reply was that I was too fat to have a disorder. Like many people, my vision of an eating disorder was the emaciated anorectic and as I was nowhere near that vision, I dismissed the possibility altogether. My fear is that other women will do the same and not seek out the help they need.

Janey – I agree with your last comment, in that many people look sympathetically to the emaciated anorexic sufferer, and with disgust at someone who is obese but has an equally serious psychological disorder. If you ever visit the pro-ana boards, which I advocate only in the name of sociological study only, you’ll see lots of girls insisting that they are anorexic, but a lot less who will admit to bulimia, which is actually the most common of the two. Girls will post for advice on how to “become” anorexic; I’ve never seen anyone “want” to become bulimic. And rarely will you find someone on these boards who will admit to being a binge eater.

Deep down, I think it’s because anorexia is valorized because its sufferers have “control” and are usually thin, whereas bulimia and binge eating are characterized by out-of-control binges, and most sufferers are either normal or overweight, and some are even obese.

It’s a classic case of the ends justifying the means – who cares if you had anorexia? You’re skinny!

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:29 pm

4 On October 3rd, 2007, Rachel said:

but I’m not sure I like being asked to find a woman’s body shocking or horrific.

I’m not asking for comments on Caro’s body; I’m asking for thoughts on the marketing tactic being used. Is it a positive move for the eating disorders awareness movement, or a step backwards?

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm

5 On October 3rd, 2007, Fillyjonk said:

Nono, not you, Rachel! The ad campaign. I felt ambivalent about it because it’s making a point I agree with, but it’s making it by using a woman’s body for shock and horror value.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm

6 On October 3rd, 2007, Rachel said:

Oh, ok! Yeah, Caro says she found it to be empowering, but personally, I think they exploited her to get some publicity.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 4:02 pm

7 On October 3rd, 2007, Miss Janey said:

Hm. Is ANY ad completely altruistic? Ever seen the ads for PETA and the Humane Society? The animals photographed certainly aren’t being ASKED permission to appear. Hopefully, they benefit by being rescued. But ultimately, they ARE being featured to encourage people to give money, or at least to THINK about the issue being presented. You could call that “exploitation”.

If the person in the ad feels OK about partaking… then perhaps the means justify the end.

All that said, Miss J found the image terribly disturbing and couldn’t look for long.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm

8 On October 3rd, 2007, Sarah said:

Rachel I agree with your 3:29 comment 100%. And then some.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 4:51 pm

9 On October 3rd, 2007, Elisa said:

The first time I saw the ad, I thought that it was made to look beautiful. I was astounded by the artful poses. I kept thinking this was exactly what the women who wanted to look thin were pulled towards. She didn’t look miserable, but rather graceful and happy. I don’t think the intent carried through in the visual.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 8:51 pm

10 On October 3rd, 2007, Jackie said:

I think people don’t like to see the reality behind their fantasies. The ad was taken down most likely because of that. People were complaining, at seeing how a supermodel would look perspectively, with her clothes off.

It’s easier to go with the fantasy. Hopefully one or two people will remember Isabelle the next time they see a supermodel, and realize they are contributing to a industry that requires that level of starvation to participate in it. That models & women in general, are real people, not just clothes-hangers.

I don’t know how I feel about the ad being exploitative of people who have an eating disorder. I have always felt that most people need to see a ad or PSA, that makes them have a “OMG!” reaction, before they realize they need to do something. I think that’s exactly what that image of Isabelle provided.

Perhaps everyone with an eating disorder doesn’t look as severely thin as Isabelle, but who would want the idea that they’re possibly subjecting someone to feeling so bad they loose weight until they look like her, on their conscience?

I made a comparison to how she looked on that ad, to how Nazi Concentration Camp victims looked at the height of their starvation. This is just a much more well-done version of what Hitler tried to attempt, to make a society of perfect people. What’s easier than making the people you want to change, feel bad about themselves, and therfore submit themselves to being changed.

I hope the mayor of Milan can live with the idea, that he stopped saving women from submitting themselves to trying to fit into the rediculous ideal models represent, on his conscience.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 10:56 pm

11 On October 3rd, 2007, Rachel said:

I hope the mayor of Milan can live with the idea, that he stopped saving women from submitting themselves to trying to fit into the rediculous ideal models represent, on his conscience.

See, this is where you and I differ. I would argue that a substantial portion of the population in seeing the image might profess shock and disbelief, but secretly would marvel at Caro’s superwoman ability to whittle herself down to bone. The fact that she’s already the pro-ana poster girl shows just how counterproductive the ad really was.

And I don’t think any ad, or the banning of super-skinny models from the runway for that matter, can “save” women from what is most often a psychological disease rooted in causes that most often have nothing to do with overly-thin models.

posted on October 3rd, 2007 at 11:45 pm

12 On November 4th, 2007, Eric said:

I could find any signature under this article.
I’m sorry to see that instead of positively looking at the unperfect, but efficient attemps of this photographer to draw attention to the problem, your kind of dehumanizing it by takin people into abstract, ice cold commercial of marketing point of view. The guy already obtained marvelous results in putting in evidence our racist attitudes with multicolored people, hiv’ed, and helped greatly these causes by taking them out of shadow. And there he does again…so please help him instead of judging him as a satanized servant of the clothes business. Show concern. disseminate positively his though, and help him using business money for cause without cents. (did you reread yourselves, counting the word for the anexia cause – i noticed a personal attack to the model,already badly scarced by life and not in need of your supplement – versus the words against the business?). This world (i mean it’s humans- desperatly need to learn humanity again, and to forget to hide itself behind “tech”, “marketised”, “…”, curtains in it discours..

posted on November 4th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

13 On November 4th, 2007, Rachel said:

Eric – you’re delusional. Nowhere did anyone personally attack or criticize Isabelle Caro, and the rest of your reply doesn’t make much more sense. Not once was the photographer mentioned – we’re discussing the company who commissioned the photographer. Please read the post in its entirety before you begin to question it.

Bringing attention to eating disorder awareness is admirable, certainly. But like I have said repeatedly, Isabelle’s is not the most common face of an eating disorder, and so can distort the entire so-called goal of raising eating disorder awareness. It thus begs the question: Is the company bringing attention to eating disorder awareness, or are they further glorifying the disease under the guise of altriusm?

posted on November 4th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

14 On July 10th, 2008, Eating disordered behaviors go undetected, untreated » The-F-Word.org said:

[...] a naked 68-pound Isabelle Caro, who suffers from anorexia. Read previous discussions on this here, here and here. My concern with this ad was the same as Elliot’s; the face of an eating disorder [...]

posted on July 10th, 2008 at 11:00 am

15 On January 10th, 2009, Anorexia awareness art exhibit: Helping or hurting? » The-F-Word.org said:

[...] The title refers to the weight (about 70 pounds) of French actress Isabelle Caro, who recently posed naked for ads condemning anorexia. Thein, 29, used her friends as models and then digitally altered the [...]

posted on January 10th, 2009 at 8:01 am