Former Anorexic Model on Ad

Posted by Lori Henry Sep 26, 2007

The ad campaign that has sparked even more controversy than the Apple ad or any other in recent history, is Nolita’s “No Anorexia” featuring French former actress and model Isabelle Caro.

She only weighs 62.8 pounds and has suffered from anorexia for 15 years. In her 20’s, she posed for Oliviero Toscani’s lens as a way to bring attention to the deadly disease. She hopes with the corresponding Milan Fashion Week and the recent bans on underweight models, she will show others how dangerous an eating disorder is.

Even thought the campaign was approved by the Ministry of Health, it has sparked immense disagreement about whether it’s positive or negative. Photos of an emaciated woman to someone who is starving themselves, only makes them wish they were that thin.

Wow, the photo is pretty shocking. I can’t imagine how much more extreme it would be to walk by it on a large billboard. What strikes me as interesting is that anorexia has become such a big issue for the fashion world, it’s being discussed worldwide and is now even being used by a mainstream fashion ad. That's a good thing if it makes people more aware.

Will the ad cause people with anorexia to become sicker? Will it put eating disorders out in the open to being about awareness? It’ll probably do both.

UPDATE: The ad has been taken down on orders of the mayor of Milan. This affects all city-controlled billboards, although privately owned ones are still up. No official statement as to why has been released, as the controversy is extremely heavy in Italy.