When the Cruise 16 Gucci campaign video dropped last year, featuring a slow-mo dance party with models moving out-of-sync to Alive She Died’s Joy Division cover “She’s Lost Control Again,” most of the focus was given to the amazingly awkward dancing and the lavish clothes. But a set of stills from the campaign that ran on the Times website in December have reignited a debate about irresponsibly thin models. Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority has now stepped in to ban the images following complaints from readers, asserting that 17-year-old Avery Blanchard’s pose and proportions amount to “irresponsible” advertising.
“Further, her pose elongated her torso and accentuated her waist so that it appeared to be very small,” added the ASA. “We also considered that her sombre facial expression and dark makeup, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. For those reasons, we considered that the model leaning against the wall appeared to be unhealthily thin in the image, and therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible.”
Gucci has countered the ruling by saying the decision is a subjective one. The brand asserts that the models had “slim builds,” but were not depicted as “unhealthily thin.”
The ASA aren’t the only ones playing watchdog over the weight of fashion models. Last year France passed a law that sought to crack down on eating disorders in the country by requiring models to provide a medical certificate proving a healthy BMI. California has now proposed a similar law that would slap agencies with a hefty fine for hiring models who hadn’t passed the required tests. “It’s important that the models are healthy,” said Isabelle Saint-Felix, head of The French National Union of Modeling Agencies, at the time. “But it’s a little simplistic to think there won’t be any more anorexics if we get rid of very thin models.” Perhaps thin bodies wouldn’t be so contentious in fashion if larger ones were a little more visible.
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Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Instagram