New Israeli law bans underweight models in adverts

Israel has become the first country to impose legislation around a minimum weight for professional models and written disclosures on digitally altered adverts.

20 March 2012

Photo: VLADIMIR POTOP

A new Israeli law is trying to fight the spread of eating disorders by banning underweight models from local advertising and requiring publications to disclose when they use altered images to make women and men appear thinner.

The new law, passed late on Monday, requires models to produce a medical report, dating back no more than three months, at every shoot that will be used on the Israeli market, stating that they are not malnourished by World Health Organization standards.

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"We want to break the illusion that the model we see is real," said Liad Gil-Har, assistant to law sponsor Dr. Rachel Adato, who compares the battle against eating disorders to the struggle against smoking.

The U.N. agency uses a standard known as the body mass index - calculated by dividing weight by height - to determine malnutrition. WHO says a body-mass index below 18.5 is indicative of malnutrition, said Adato, a gynaecologist.

Additionally, any advertisement published for the Israeli market must also have a clearly written notice disclosing if the model used in it was digitally altered to make her, or him, look thinner. The law will not apply to foreign publications sold in Israel.

This appears to be the first attempt by any government to use legislation to take on a fashion industry accused of abetting eating disorders by idealising extreme thinness. It could become a model for other countries grappling with the spread of anorexia and bulimia, particularly among young women.

In Israel, about two per cent of all girls between 14 and 18 have severe eating disorders, which is a statistic similar to other developed countries, said anthropologist Sigal Gooldin, who studies eating disorders.

The law's supporters said they hoped it would encourage the use of healthy models in local advertising and heighten awareness of digital tricks that transform already thin women into illusory waifs, and was championed by one of Israel's top model agents, Adi Barkan, who said in 30 years of work, he saw young women become skinnier and sicker while struggling to fit the shrinking mould of what the industry considered attractive.

Critics said the legislation should have focused on health, not weight, saying many models were naturally very thin. Top Israeli model Adi Neumman said she wouldn't pass under the new rules, because her BMI was 18.3. Neumman said she ate well and exercised.

"Force actual tests. Make girls go to a doctor. Get a system to follow girls who are found to be puking," said Neumman.

Legislator Adato said only five per cent of women had BMI that naturally fell under 18.5.

Other governments have taken steps to prevent "size zero" medical problems, but have shied from legislation. In 2008, Madrid Fashion Week banned women from the catwalk whose BMI is below 18. The U.K. and U.S. have guidelines, but the fashion industry is self-regulated.

It's not clear whether the new Israeli law will have a measurable impact, because Israeli teens take their cues from both international media and local publications, anthropologist Gooldin said. And the ban isn't likely to affect many - there are only about 300 professional models in Israel, and only a few work abroad, said agent Barkan and model Neumman.