Surgeons call for ban on breast surgery ads

I spotted this in the Independent, but if you didn’t see it, then it’s worth a mention. Apparently, some clinics are using models with “anatomically impossible” breasts to promote the benefits of cosmetic surgery. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) are concerned that such models – often digitally enhanced – create “unrealistic expectations” in clients and feel they should be banned in advertisements.

I don’t think it’s the ads that are the problem, more a society that thinks it’s problems can be solved by moving up several cup sizes. If you follow their logic then page 3 girls, girlie magazines and the like should also be banned – it’s not the models it’s the belief that there is one standard of acceptable and desirable beauty and that anyone can get it by going under the surgeon’s knife.

Still, I wish them luck with their campaign – perhaps they could also lay down some minimum ages for patients as well while they are about it. There are still sensible doctors, like the one who had promised their daughter implants for her 16th birthday – though doubtless they would find one somewhere who would do it after just a quick Google search.