It is now a criminal offence in France for designers and agencies to book an extremely thin model for their catwalk show. Under a new law, which passed days before the country elected a new President, MPs made it illegal for companies to employ undernourished models and fineable for magazines to digitally alter a model’s image without explicating stating it.
Everyone with an ounce of sense knows the promotion of extremely thin models in campaigns and on the catwalk is dangerous. Following in the footsteps of India, Israel, Italy and Spain, France has out measures in place to put the well-being of models first. The new rulings will carry hefty fines and even prison sentences in some cases. Anyone using an underweight model in their runway shows or signing them to an agency runs the risk of a maximum six-month prison term and a €75,000 (£55,000) fine. Advertising campaigns that ‘touch up’ models – be it to make them look slimmer or more robust – without notifying the reader will be charged a €37,500 (£31,602) fine or up to 30% of the sums spent on advertising.
To determine whether a model is well enough to walk in a fashion show they will are now required to have medical certification. This document, which is valid for two years, will be calculated on more than just the model’s BMI, though this will be a consideration for those over 16-years-old.
There has been condemnation for the ruling that applies to digitally retouched images. As the law only applies to advertising, not editorial images, it will alleviate the glossy magazines from being fined for their continual promotion of thinness. Furthermore, this is being seen as just a small add-on to a law first passed eight years ago in France that mandated that brands must be transparent about retouching, which has only had a slight impact.
These new measures come just days after France made ‘thinspirational’ pro-anorexia sites illegal. The ruling last Thursday made the glorifying of the eating disorder on the internet a criminal offence that can carry a one-year prison sentence and a fine of €10,000.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.