[rainbow_tears]

Taken from Psychology Today Online


Revenge of the Size 12 Woman
Will anorexic models go the way of the dodo? Cultural ideals get a makeover. How advertising dollars gamble on realism.
By:Jocelyn Voo

That zaftig redhead hawking body lotion on the 20-foot billboard? The three-by-four-foot poster of a woman unapologetically embracing her thunder thighs? Yep, they're talking to you. And if you're a woman, you're listening.

Women will compare themselves to pictures of superthin models more than to pics of regular women only when accompanying text reinforces the "need" to be slender and attractive. Otherwise, research published in Body Image finds, they're much more likely to relate to everyday models. And, ad mavens hope, buy what's on offer.

Lars Perner, a professor of marketing at USC not affiliated with the study, relates the phenomenon to the use of celebs in ads. "Although there may be a drive to try to be like celebrities, models who are more like consumers are often seen as more relevant role models. People are more likely to imitate those who are more like themselves."

Score one for big girls—and one for Big Beauty as well.


Model History, Writ Large

* September 2002: Jamie Lee Curtis poses for More magazine in unretouched and unflattering photos wearing spandex briefs and a sports bra.
* June 2005: Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty kicks off with women sizes six to 14 posing in their skivvies.
* August 2005: Nike advertisements feature close-ups of athletic women's "big butts" and "thunder thighs."
* September 2006: Madrid's Fashion Week bans underweight models from strutting the catwalk.
* October 2006: John Paul Gaultier uses a size-20 model at Paris Fashion Week.