French parliament bans thin people

Obesity is a major problem in the modern developed world. Right this second, countless millions of people are busy claiming that their overweight status is down to a faulty thyroid gland or their naturally 'big-boned' structure, rather than the fact that they spend all day shovelling family-size bars of Cadburys LardVeins down their gullet.

On the flipside of the coin, however, there's also a serious problem with overly thin people - in particular, the way that skeletal 'size zero' models are held up as role models to young women. The French are fighting back, though. They want to put out the message that it's not okay to look like as emaciated as a leper stepping out of a wind tunnel. How have they done this? By banning the incitement of thinness.

It is now illegal for anyone - but particularly those pesky advertising-types - to promote the idea of being excessively thin in France. Incredibly, though, the author of the law - a conservative named Valery Boyer - does not believe that it has gone far enough, citing the examples of pro-anorexia websites to show how disturbing and widespread this trend has become.

Anyone convicted of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food” will now face a hefty fine that could run into the thousands. All of which seems slightly vague, to be honest ... there's nothing wrong with promoting a healthy lifestyle, after all, and while Westmonster isn't suggesting that everyone should be a stick insect living on one piece of lettuce a day, reminding people of the benefits of staying in shape can't be all that bad, can it?

Anyway. Please excuse us. We've got another bag of Doritos to eat.

Written by C J Davies on 15 Apr 2008 11:28 PM. Permalink