You Are Not Sketch: Anti-Anorexia Campaign

Brazilian model agency Star Models has launched provocative and powerful anorexia awareness campaign called ‘You Are Not a Sketch’ focused on images portraying the drastic impact this eating disorder has on human bodies. See for yourself the message the campaign spreads.

This ad campaign is among the most powerful messages to spread the word about the devastating eating disorder, Anorexia.

The idea being quite simple translates millions of scientific articles into simple realization of how dangerous the disorder is by means of visual impact. The illustrations by Edson Rosa, Samuel Marinho that mimic typical fashion sketches are being contrasted to the images of famous models, whose bodies were airbrushed to show obvious signs of starvation.

Anorexia Nervosa -  an eating disorder that manifests itself in severe food intake restrictions. One of the first signs of this disorder is a very rapid and dramatic weight loss, as well as refusal to eat.

Anorexia stays a threat to girls and young women whose self-image is still being developed and who take their inspiration from numerous Zero-sized models in fashion world. In society that is obsessed with visual information, this kind of ad campaign hits right to the point, reflecting the real similarities between the girls suffering from Anorexia and the sketches made by fashion designers. Despite being gruesome exaggerations of the real feminine bodies, the models altered by computer programs do resemble the actual runway models we have seen earlier during Fashion Weeks.

Despite the positive intention of the campaign, there is also a threat lurking in the shadows. The provocative images might be triggering the self-image of the girls that are already suffering from this disorder and promote their desire to stay this way. Certainly fashion industry apart from promoting high art, also has negative connotations that drive young girls to be suffering to appear size 0 without realization of the high price that is paid, sometimes even with their lives.