牛奶可乐经济学C6: 所有权的神话

A slim model with messy but stylish hair is posing in the fashion show, with her hands resting on the hips. She is so skinny that I can imagine the torture of keeping a diet to be slender, but the clothing indeed looks attractive on her. Perhaps there would be lots of enthusiastic girls purchasing this garment because of the gorgeous model. However, super-thin models were actually banned from Madrids annual fashion week. Why did the company give up the chance of selling more products by hiring thin models? The author points out that to keep a good shape and remain competitive in the market, models will live on a diet that is harmful to their health. In this case, girls are likely to imitate them to "starve themselves to look the same."

This is an economic example excepted from chapter 6, which I found it corresponds with a trend on social media nowadays. Among online clothing shops, sellers post pictures of super thin models in small-sized dresses; the strategy does appeal for young girls and the dresses sell well. Meanwhile, it creates anxiety over appearance in the whole society. Specifically, in order to be slim enough to cram themselves into clothes that are excessively small, lots of girls start to eat less or even eat nothing at lunch or dinner time. This is totally against the way of living a healthy life.

I feel sad to see that many girls are worrying about their body shapes after browsing the websites and finding that only slender girls can wear beautiful clothes. Thus, I suggest that there should be requirements for advertisements of clothing shops. Just like what the organizers of Madrids fashion week do - ban the models that are not in the range of BMI. I am not sure whether this would work, but at least people should try to wipe out the consensus that thinner is better.