A3 Poster Proposal

I am basing this idea on an email that I received a while back in 2007. The images are quite graphical and the tag line is simple yet effective. I think that this style would work well for the poster because the majority of people walk past a poster and have a brief glance at it. In the short period of time that a persons’ eye’s make contact with the poster, the message of it has to be made instantly, or is otherwise lost.
Basically the images are of incredibly stick-thin models that make your stomach churn and want to eat for their sake. I think these images would be effective in the poster style because they would grab a viewers’ attention and really make them look at the images. These images would also work well because, unlike the anti-smoking campaigns with which we have been bombarded with and have now grown immune to, they are not constantly shown to the public. By showing them to the public, I think that the images will have a big impact on the way the viewer perceives really thin models, and reiterate fashion’s debate on the issue. Additionally, society hears about the “size 0 models” issue without much visual confirmation and this poster would provide that confirmation.

Re: The French Rethink Thin

1) http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/the-french-rethink-thin/
2) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/world/europe/16france.html?_r=1&ref=health&oref=slogin

I think Frances’ decision to legislate against extreme thinness encouraged or promoted by others is a good decision because it would mean that they would have more control of how models and women in general, are portrayed in the media. In addition, it would mean that the fashion industry would have to change significantly in order to comply with the laws and I think that the result of the change would evoke a more positive response from society as opposed to how we negatively perceive the industry today.
However it needs to be taken into consideration that there is a part of society that bring extreme thinness upon themselves, maybe as a result of influence but there could be other contributing factors, and this is something that the government cannot penalise.

As for advocating such a law in Australia, I would be behind it because it would have a serious impact on our society. Young girls wouldn’t feel such pressure on them any more to look a certain way and they could finally be happy with the way they are. The local fashion industry would change as well and this would be beneficial to those who are influenced by what happens within this industry.

Design Statement

“The emergence of size 0 and 00 is a negative result of vanity sizing that more and more women are aspiring to.”

A series of images will be created to draw awareness to the issue of size 0 and 00 clothing and deter women (and girls?) from wanting to become size 0/00 through techniques such as comparison and contrast, negative connotations, humor and parody. The messages that I want the images to convey are 1) size 0/00 is not pretty/ beautiful and 2) to make the female viewer more confident about their body/ clothing size. Naturally, the target audience are those who want to become size 0/00 – self-conscious women (and teen girls?)

Vanity Sizing Cons

After coming up with as many ideas I could think of that were related to vanity sizing, I have decided to portray the consequences that arise out of vanity sizing as my propaganda. This is because I feel that the positive side of the issue is felt more by society and the negative aspects are generally disregarded.
In a bid to further crunch the broad issue, I created a second mind map based on all the cons and broke each one down further. From doing this I have decided to look at “The Introduction of Size 0 and 00 for Grown Women” and the issues that stem off it, as this is an issue that directly affects society today.

Victimisation

What happens to those who fall victim to vanity sizing?  Those who are naturally thin?  Well, manufactures have come a with a solution for that.  Sizes 2, 0, and 00.  And there has even been speculation about negative sizes.  It's as if they are trying to single out the thin, like it's completely abnormal and that being big is a good thing.  Could this mean that the retail companies and other clothing manufacturers are trying to mask the true cause of this phenomenon? 

Pretending

Women are always satisfied to find that they are a smaller size than previously but that's the whole point of vanity sizing. Clothing manufacturers deliberately make bigger clothes and put smaller sizes on them to make their customers feel good about themselves. And the retail companies are loving it. Keep producing bigger clothes with smaller sizes and keep the customers coming back for more.

Visual Thinking

Vanity Sizing

Ever heard of the term ‘vanity sizing’? Well that’s the reason why clothes have gotten bigger over years. Basically, clothing manufacturers are putting smaller sizes on the tags of their garments that are actually a size or two bigger. And it’s all a ploy to make the customers (especially women) think that they’re smaller than they actually are when in fact vanity sizing is actually masking the growing obesity of society. How about this for proof: Marilyn Monroe wore a size 12 in the 1950’s during the peak of her career. Today she would be the equivalent of a size 6.