Next ad banned for 'unhealthily thin' model

[Bamboozled5]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/feb/12/next-ad-banned-over-unhealthily-thin-model-in-digitally-altered-leggings?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Unfortunately I can't paste the photo so hope you can read it!

Is this model really so very thin that this ad should be banned? While she evidently has no excess fat, I'm not sure she is 'unhealthily' thin. I think we have normalised being overweight and obese which are at least as unhealthy.

I'm the same height as this model with BMI 22 and have much more padding. So I would say her BMI is probably below 20 which is technically underweight. I just found this ban interesting as to me she doesn't look extremely thin.

she doesn’t look unhealthy or too thin, nobody is body shaming her.
The digital enhancements gives her unrealistically thin legs. She has no calf definition at all.

Good on ASA for banning it.

I'd also argue that they aren't the oddest of the photoshop. You can clearly see in these two (still on next website internationally) that she's either got unhealthily thin wrists and ankles at odd angles or she is digitally altered to be completely unrepresentative of her body

The bent ankle/jean in the first, and the arm in the second

Thank you, was about to say the same!

I agree it's not about her being thin, it's about the doctoring of the image.

These two photos I do see an issue with because they look like they have been altered and look really bizarre and fake. The one in the article however, does not and the investigation confirmed they hadn't altered her body in it, just made the trouser legs themselves look longer (presumably they came up too short for her given her long legs, a very annoying problem for tall women but that's another thread).

I wonder if the investigation was specifically that image or the pictures in general for this model in those jeans? The set of photos is still on the next website in other countries

I am a mixture of different European ancestors. Just very slim bone structure and build. It's common in my family. I have always been this weight no matter what I eat. I had a lot of nasty comments when I was a teenager implying I had an eating disorder when I ate like a wolf.

It's really unpleasant and just as nasty to tell women who are naturally slim that their body is unacceptable or they look "unhealthy" as it is to shame people for being naturally curvy if that is healthy for them. There will always be people at the ends of the bell curve "body positivity" is no such thing if it only applies to larger women and involves these kinds of comments about tall and naturally slim women which can be just as damaging.

She is far too thin and I don’t want my daughter aspiring to look like her. I’m glad action has been taken

I wonder if the investigation was specifically that image or the pictures in general for this model in those jeans? The set of photos is still on the next website in other countries

That would have made more sense. According to the article posted they banned it due to that one image of her sitting on the wooden block and if that's accurate then I think it is wrong, especially given their reasoning which I quoted above which is hugely problematic and - ironically - just as damaging and likely to cause body image issues as their supposed motive for banning it!

I agree with you.

Well, my daughter has a build just like me and I don't want her growing up being told that she looks "unhealthy" and her body is unacceptable. No women should be body shamed in this manner.

I really don’t think that the odd manipulated image is going to push girls into
eating disorders I think a bigger issue is things such as undiagnosed ASD / ADHD in girls and women leading to food and eating issues (also ARFID) so the focus shouldn’t be on doctored images if you’re looking at it from that perspective

What teenage girl is going to be looking at Next, anyway?! 😂

Her left leg looks particularly odd. It has no shape, looks like a pipe, I’ve never seen a thigh which is the same width at the top as it does at the knee.

So you didn’t read the article, but posted about it? 🤔

I won’t body Shane a clearly slender frame which this model clearly has.

My issue is that Next is pretty out of touch if it feels that the majority of its customers are this size. Average UK size 14-16. This isn’t high fashion. It’s a high street brand who clearly doesn’t know how to connect or correctly market to their customers.

I'm severely underweight due to a life limiting condition. My BMI is low enough that if I was restricting my diet purposely I'd be classed as anorexic and am on TPN. My legs and arms are nowhere near that slim. They don't look real.

I have mixed feelings on this. For one reason or another I’m a lot ‘thinner’ than the woman portrayed in the photo and the comments from people around me are really hurtful and gives me a sense of shame. However I also believe in celebrating women in as far as we can and not making them feel bad about themselves no matter what size or shape they are so I see both sides.

It's MNs so the stock answer will be she looks like me &/or she is healthy. "Why must every model be obese"- ignoring the fact there is a middle ground..

Some of their clothes are aimed at larger women. This particular garment obviously would not suit a larger woman so why is it a problem for them to market it with a model of the type of build that the garment suits, i.e. with a similar build to those who would be their target customer for this product?

If their entire website was full of models with this build you would have a point but having had a quick glance at it that doesn't appear to be the case.

I do wonder if that photo has been chosen of her because it is one of the more realistic looking of the set, and people are trying to avoid advertising the "worse" photos to not perpetuate the problem of sharing unhealthy looking photos

It's easy to look at that one and think it's not too bad

But part of celebrating women no matter what size or shape they are IS also celebrating tall, thin women. Not banning photos of them on the basis that while the ASA admits they appear to be a healthy weight for their build, apparently their body is unacceptable if in a pose or wearing a garment that "accentuates them being tall and slim", like it is something to be ashamed of?

This reminds me of all of that "campaign for real women" stuff that was going on. As if to imply women like this are fake women, or aliens.

I'm not sure why you've posted lots of things about how all bodies shapes should be celebrated but then also posted more than once about what body types should be wearing these jeans and they wouldn't suit people who are larger

They are advertised as dark blue skinny jeans. The staple of many a millennial wardrobe regardless of size for many years. There's no "obviously" about them being exclusively for models this slim

At what size should people stop wearing skinny jeans? A size 10? 14?

These jeans were for sale up to a size 18

Sure and I take your point but this model is on the very slender side which isn’t their demographic. Yea women come in all sizes and I buy regularly from Next and see the models who generally aren’t 14/16 models unless ‘plus’ size which isn’t what the population is for the majority of their clothes.

She looks like a slender teenager. This can distorts things if it is a child who does not have any adult curves.

The photo doesn’t look real, you can tell it’s been doctored. She looks absolutely fine in other photographs of her but we are starting to switch on to photo editing and I agree with them taking that one down. It’s an unrealistic representation because it’s not actually real, not because the model is too thin but because they have made her look different to how she actually does.