debenhams, a large department store in london and other united kingdom locations, has declared it will no longer engage in 'photoshopping' its clothing advertisements - rather, now showing the models in their true dimensions. of course this doesn't ruleout inclusion of those who may alter their dimensions through dieting, anorexia, bulimia, plastic surgery, botox, etc etc (so many etceteras!), however, debenhams has said it wishes to promote the 'normality' of 'ordinary' dimensions ...

in their announcement, debenhams showed the models before and after photoshopping. what became obvious was that the photoshopping didn't improve any of them one bit. it simply gave work to the photoshoppers. it was truly difficult to see what photoshopping sought to achieve - apart from the blunt slicing of waists, 'thinning' of legs by longitudinal slicing, etc. odd.

thank you for the article, and for adding ideas for addressing the problem of the programme. sadly, unlike *prisoner* or such fare as *home and away*, *neighbours*, etc there is no effort in *top model* to deal with socio-political issues - and it is supposed to be the real world! at least those other programmes did/do endeavour to include questions of power relationships (teachers to students, parents to children, prison warders to prisoners, prisoners to prisoners, students to students, sibling to sibling, teenage pregnancy, crimes against the person, property crimes (i recall one storyline in *home and away* (i think) where a young girl was stealing clothing from other girls ...). still, i guess that's the difference between fiction and reality? jas

jocelynne, good post seems that no one cares about this though, they would all rather argue wether left is right or right is conservative.
As the father of three girls all about to enter teenage years i am very concerned over what appears to be a product driven consumer based flood that will soon overtake them. The idea that a woman would behave as these girls do on this program is so disturbing that any woman's group worth it's salt should be lobbying to have it removed.
I do recognise that the teen soaps do address teen issues but i hardly consider them to be great role models either. The last time i saw any of it on one particular show a teenage girl was having an affair with her teacher. It was handled appallingly with the girl running away with the teacher after he was released from gaol. I know there is some reality to this but it is not demonstrating the way to cope with such a situation rather showing the worst way to over react.

Excellent program Danielle given it demonstrates many of the pitfalls and negatives regarding these types of competitions. Most girls are aware that every person is unique emotionally and physically; modelling or in the absence thereof.

My daughter is a part time model while studying, along with quite a few girls she knows, and if they find the experiences daunting or totally negative; they leave the industry. Her modelling has never been about competition of looks/the physical.

My daughter models purely for top wages, the enjoyment of wearing fashion and marketing clothes and products for companies.

She does not bother about competing with others and would never participate in competitive type shows or programs.

The airing of this program is a positive for the models or any girls who initially think that modelling is a competitive issue. It is not and most models already are aware of this fact. Every employer requires different models for different situations events and commodities. Choice of another model, most models know, has nothing to do with themselves as an individual.

Hopefully, this program will be a total turn off for aspiring models thinking that girls looks and physical appearances should be a competitive issue.

There is a huge appetite for reality programming, combined with young girls dreams of being a princess / model, it is not difficult to see where its popularity is coming from.

I have a 14yr old daughter who is mad about the show, I dislike this show mostly because, combined with my wife's love of cooking shows, I often end up spending much time reading or chores.

The show is innocuous, and insipid, and runs to a very predictable formula. However, unlike the author or other posters, I am confident that my daughter has the rationale to differentiate between fiction on TV and the real world.

I am sure that others feel that their children need to be wrapped in cotton wool and shielded from the real world, but, at some point, they will have to deal with it.