Models, BMI and advertising effectiveness

As the Western world and much of the other world faces terrifying problems caused by obesity the UK press has got itself into a terrible tizz about thin models. If you have a BMI (body mass index) below 18.5 then you are fair game for the media in a way that would never happen for their plumper sisters with a BMI of 30+

What has this got to do with the 50-plus you might ask. Well, “the latest research” shows that women rank the effectiveness of advertisements higher if they contain average-sized models. This is all revealed in an article in the Observer.

Apparently, a Dr Helga Dittmar, a person who is big in thinness asked 800 women about the relative effectiveness of thin and medium sized models and came to this conclusion. When I read a little closer it seems that Dr Dittmar only bothered to ask the question to women aged 18-30.
Why an age max at 30, when older women spend more on clothes than the under 30s. Clearly, the learned Dr. didn't consider that the choice of thin models might be aimed at the older women.

Since clothes companies are not all a bunch of idiots you can only assume that they continue with thin models because it is effective. Assuming Dr Dittmar is correct (big assumption) then we have learned an interesting lesson – older women prefer thin models. Dick Stroud