Female fashion models and many
celebrities are "too thin," say four in every five consumers from around
the world, a new survey showed on Thursday.
A week before the start of the annual London fashion season, The
Nielsen Company revealed what 25,000 people in 45 countries said about the
body size of women strutting the world's catwalks and red carpets.
"An overwhelming 81 percent of online consumers agree that female
fashion models and celebrities are too thin," ACNielsen Europe's President
Patrick Dodd said in a news release.
The findings follow a worldwide outcry over the fashion industry's promotion
of the stick-thin images which critics say contribute to eating disorders
in young women.
Nielsen found Latin American consumers were strongly against
super-skinny models, with 91 percent of Argentinians and 89 percent of
Brazilians supporting the notion that fashion models are too thin.
The online survey also found a link between perceptions of thinness
among women and a country's quality of life.
Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia were the fiercest
critics of the fashion industry with as many as 94 percent of those polled
believing models are too thin.
Those countries also consistently top global rankings for having the
best quality of life.
"These countries believe in the healthy
concept of beauty and culturally also reject the super-skinny model type
that follows fashion trends," Dodd said.
As many as 89 percent of U.S., British and French consumers were
against ultra-thin models, the survey showed.
That concern was least shared in Asia, where fewest people objected to
the images portrayed by the fashion and celebrity industry.
Just 59 percent of Vietnamese consumers thought models were too thin,
followed by 64 percent of Indians and 63 percent of Japanese.
