As someone who dealt with anorexia, I’m glad Next’s advert was banned

Just when you thought we were getting somewhere with wellness over thinness, strong over skinny, retailer Next proves we’ve barely moved the needle. An advert for the company’s power stretch denim leggings has been banned by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for the appearance of the featured model’s ‘unhealthily thin’ legs. And they do look shockingly, impossibly slim. Seeing the advert for the first time, I was fixated on this seemingly impossible feat of human genetics. Then I was angry that women are expected to look like that. Then I was just tired and disappointed.

According to the judgement, Next confirmed digitally altering the image ‘so that the leggings were brought further down towards the model’s ankle’, but the overall ‘setup was selected to maintain focus on the product’. As a result of the pose, camera angle and styling, the ad was deemed ‘irresponsible’ and therefore ‘must not appear again in its current form’. As soon as this decision was handed down, righteous clamouring in defence of the ad began: ‘isn’t that anti-thin?!’ ‘She’s just slim’. ‘If this ad is being banned then why not those depicting people who are obese?’.

Because it is a false equivalency. Obesity is not a mental health condition, whereas eating disorders such as anorexia are the most fatal of all mental illnesses. Yes, some women are slim but for the vast majority, the only achievable way to this type of favoured thinness is starvation. And thank god for the ASA, frankly, for offering some protection to those of us who would otherwise be none the wiser that the images they are seeing are altered.

I know firsthand the toll this can have. I’ve had anorexia on and off since I was 16; the worst bout in my mid-20s lasted three years and resulted in out-patient psychiatric treatment. The impact has been devastating: physically, I’ve been left with digestive and bone issues as well as chronic anemia. My hair started falling out. Psychologically, anorexia dominated my life and led to depression and despair.

But the impact of eating disorders extends far beyond the individual. It affects friends and family who can’t breathe because of the panic and fear about their loved one’s health and survival – my mother used to dream about my death. My ability to perform at work suffered, therefore so did my colleagues and the children I worked with at the time. I relied on valuable, already over-stretched NHS resources to get better.

The origins of eating disorders are both personal and complex but mine was absolutely influenced by the 90s and 00s trend for extreme thinness. Being (an American) size zero was lauded. If you suspect you, a family member or friend has an eating disorder, contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or at help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk, for information and advice on the best way to get appropriate treatment. For other helplines across the UK, visit here for more information.

Celebrities were shamed – in magazines, with red circles – for any ‘unsightly’ bulge. The ‘heroin chic’ aesthetic was rife from the runway to through the high street – and perhaps Next’s now-banned advert is proof that it is making a stealth return. But when extreme thinness is promoted as an ideal – and that is what we are talking about, not just slender, they-could-use-a-sandwich physiques – women suffer. Everyone suffers, really.

Men are not immune from being bombarded with imagery of idealised bodies, whether that’s chiselled, gym-honed musculature or slim torsos and faces. Online fitness coach and influencer Tom Trotter recently posted to his 620,000 Instagram followers about his battle with body dysmorphia. Realistically, though, it’s women and girls who are both targeted and impacted by this constant, gnawing, idealisation of thinness.

Nostalgia for Y2K is plastered across social media. Ozempic-slimmed bodies are everywhere, never more so than during the music, TV and film award show season we are currently in. Celebrities, including those whose fan base demographic is young women, are out promoting their productions with protruding collar bones and impossibly tiny waists. Skinny jeans are back (again). In the post-magazine heyday era, we no longer need to actively buy a publication to be told that thin is good, or right, or desirable, we merely need to open our eyes. You can barely touch a phone or see a side of a bus without being affected.

Maybe, we could just about overlook the size 0 models walking down the rarified fashion runways – models are paid to be thin, the fashion world has a concerning obsession with skinniness, we know. But when Next – wholesome Next! Beloved by nans and mums! Revered for its inclusive sizing! – is promoting a super-thin aesthetic, it’s a sign that the runways have a trickle-down effect. Digitally altered adverts are nothing new. Brands including L’Oreal and Gucci have, in the past, faced similar ASA bans for adverts featuring overly air airbrushed faces and ‘unhealthily thin’ models respectively.