Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” just got a shot to the gut.

A controversial study published by Arizona State University, the University of Cologne in Germany and Erasmus University in the Netherlands found that ads featuring plus-size models cause women who are either normal weight or overweight to feel just as bad — if not worse — about themselves as ads featuring super-thin models.

Since the 2006 death of 21-year-old model, Ana Carolina Reston, who died due to complications of anorexia — Reston was 5-foot 8-inches tall and weighed 88 pounds at the time of her death — the fashion industry has been doubling back on its malnourished roots.

From banning too-thin models in Milan and Madrid (and sending curvier women down the runway in their stead)- to plus-sized models gracing the pages of Glamour and Vogue, the industry has, arguably, been doing its due diligence to give itself a healthier makeover.

“We want healthy-looking girls, the readers want healthy-looking girls,” said Anna Wintour, who was on-hand with Michael Kors and Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova to discuss the fashion industry’s effort to prevent eating disorders at the 13th Annual Public Forum, “Health Matters: Weight and Wellness in the World of Fashion,” on March 22.

Yet, instead of lauding the fact that women who more closely resemble reality are slowly being enmeshed into fashion and advertising, we recoil in cellulite-filled horror.

“When overweight women look at thin models, they see the dissimilarities between themselves and the models, which activates knowledge that they are heavy,” ASU researcher Naomi Mandel told Lemondrop. “And when they look at heavy models, they see the similarities between themselves and the models, which also activates knowledge that they are heavy.”

It’s disheartening to think that while entire industries work to change their standards of beauty to more accurately reflect reality, many women are still so dissatisfied with their own bodies that they can’t stand to see any representation of the female form — be it plus-size or thin — staring back at them from the pages of their magazine.

Even Mandel was disappointed by women’s distaste for plus-size models. “As a consumer and magazine reader, I was slightly surprised and saddened by the results,” she told Lemondrop. “I enjoy looking at beautiful plus-size models such as Crystal Renn in the magazines. [But] we found that overweight women experienced lower self-esteem after looking at any models (versus an ad with no models) and underweight women experienced higher self-esteem after looking at any models (versus an ad with no models).”

Advertisers and fashion designers seem to have the right idea. So here’s my question. If Anna Wintour can get behind a new, healthier breed of model, why can’t the rest of us?

Via www.thatsfit.com