The fashion and marketing industries don't cause eating disorders and harmful weight obsession but, by casting stick-thin, airbrushed-to-perfection models, they are major contributors. Disturbing new evidence of this is the growing movement of 'thinspiration' websites where girls and women inspire each other to starve with photos of emaciated models and celebrities. We sought to provoke thought and discussion among marketers and fashion leaders that would make them consider casting a range of sizes to stem the rise of body hatred and eating disorders.

We were inspired by the highly disturbing phenomena of the thinspiration and pro-anorexia websites that use positive language to inspire negative thinking and behaviour. In a similar way, we juxtapose the softness of a 'Hallmark-style' card with the harshness of anorexia to shock our audience into thinking twice before they cast another emaciated cover girl or retouch the life out of their models. The greeting card was deliberately hard-hitting and provocative so that its message would stay with the recipient; they were directed to a website that used a more factual approach to persuade further.

The greeting card garnered national and international media coverage from as far away as the UK and Japan. It sparked thousands of conversations online about the need for change. Traffic to NEDIC’s website rose 250% following the launch of the campaign. The greeting card showed up on numerous marketing and fashion blogs, and it was described by the editor of one of Canada’s leading fashion magazines as ‘brilliant’.