[Source: BBC News]

The banning of high street fashion adverts which featured models who looked “unhealthily thin” has led industry experts to warn of a return to the super skinny trend.

The aesthetic characterised by models with hollow faces and protruding bones was seen in the 1990s and early 2000s but in more recent years has been pushed aside to allow space for the body positive movement, which embraced curves.

However, Zara, Next and Marks & Spencer have all had adverts banned in recent months over models who “appeared unhealthily thin”. The advertising watchdog has told the BBC it has seen a “definite uptick” in complaints about such ads.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said in 2025 it had received five or six of these complaints a week but in the two weeks after July’s M&S ad ban, it had more than 20.

In 2024, it received 61 complaints about models’ weight but it only had grounds to investigate eight.

The figures are tiny but it is something the watchdog is keeping a close eye on, along with cracking down on illegal adverts for prescription-only weight loss drugs.

ASA guidelines state that advertisers should ensure that they don’t present an unhealthy body image as aspirational.

Model and activist Charli Howard wrote a viral open letter after being dropped by her modelling agency for being “too big” despite being a UK size six to eight.

A decade on, she says: “I think we’re on the cusp of seeing heroin chic return.”

The phrase heroin chic was used in the early 1990s, when some models were extremely thin, pale, and had dark under-eye circles reminiscent of drug use.

Ms Howard says the high street adverts are as worrying as images being shared on social media as “thinspiration”.

In June, TikTok blocked search results for “skinnytok” – a hashtag which critics say directs people towards content which “idolises extreme thinness.”

“Some women are naturally thin, and that’s absolutely fine. But deliberately hiring models who appear unwell is deeply disturbing,” she said.

The ASA, in all its recent rulings, did not deem any models to be unhealthy.

In the case of Next, it acknowledged that in other shots of the same model, she appeared healthy.

Instead, it said the pose, styling, and camera angles made each of the models in the retailers adverts appear thinner.

M&S said the model’s pose was chosen to portray confidence and ease and not to convey slimness.

Next, said the model, while slim, had a “healthy and toned physique”.

Zara, which had two adverts banned last week, said that both models had medical certification proving they were in good health.

The ASA said that shadows, poses, and a slick back bun hairstyle had been used to make the models appear thinner.

“Lighting definitely plays a role – it can bring out cheekbones, collarbones, and ribcages,” Ms Howard said.

“After the body positivity movement of the 2010s, it was sadly inevitable fashion might swing back… and we know just how harmful it can be,” she said.

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