In response to controversial ads in which already thin models were Photoshopped to ridiculous (many would say offensive) levels, documentary filmmaker Darryl Roberts has called for a boycott of products manufactured and sold by Ralph Lauren.

Writer Greg Archer reported on the boycott proposal in a Dec. 7 Huffington Post article:

Not long after the brouhaha over Hamilton's image, Roberts was emailed another RL ad being used in Australia, which also featured a very thin looking woman. When a similar, third image, popped up, Roberts received an onslaught of emails from individuals fuming over the ads--they felt Lauren's apology didn't "mean anything" because he was still running ads similar to Hamilton's. ...

"They were telling me 'we're never buying anything Ralph Lauren,'" Roberts says of the people sending the emails. "It was so overwhelming, that I thought it--the boycott--was the right thing to do on the behalf of all these women that he is disrespecting by carrying on with that kind of advertising."

Roberts included all three images in his newsletter, which also included an open letter to Lauren, and sent it out to the more than 100,000 people on his email list.

Many experts have linked unrealistic media images with increases in poor body image, lower self esteem and eating disorders among girls and young women.

Labels: media_influences, self-image_issues

Posted By: Aspen/CRC