Israel passed a law that bans underweight models from advertisements and runways, according to media reports.
Legislators also passed a law that requires ad agencies who digitally alter photos to make models look thinner to disclose that they had done so, reported Haaretz.
Israeli lawmakers said the law is in attempt to shift the idealized perceptions about what is beautiful, according to the publication. They ruled that the advertisements encourage eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
The law will not only affect advertisements made in Israel, as foreign-made ones will have to feature models with a body mass index of 18.5 or higher, or who appear to have met that requirement, the publication reported.
Rachel Adato, the lawmaker who introduced the bill, said she hoped it would promote a healthier body image, according to the BBC. “Beautiful is not underweight, beautiful should not be anorexic,” she said.
Modeling agencies protested the passage of the law, saying that some models are healthy but just appear to be thin.
“The indexes on which the law is based are arbitrary and are not appropriate for every model. I know many models who are totally healthy girls who might be disqualified because of the law,” Eli Edri, with the Roberto Models Agency, told Haaretz.
For models who are thin and have a difficult time gaining weight, he said, “Such a law would disqualify them without determining whether they are really sick or not.”
