A picture of an ultra-thin model in the latest edition of the fashion magazine Cover has provoked an enormous wave of outrage and criticism on social media.
Hundreds of Danes have expressed their contempt for the magazine's use of the extraordinarily thin woman, who posed in a knitted dress for a photo series 'gym class heroes'.
A big mistake
Many believe Cover employees and the Scoop Models agency, which represents the young model, should be ashamed for promoting an "anorexic" ideal of beauty and for employing a woman who looks "sick".
After backlash on Facebook and Twitter, Malene Malling, the magazine’s editor, officially apologised and admitted “the picture should never have been published”.
"I have made magazines for over ten years and this time I have unfortunately made a big mistake. I would like to apologise,” Malling said.
Apology will not cut it
However, many Danes expressed on Facebook that "an apology will not cut it".
“I sincerely hope that you sit with a nasty taste in your mouth. My daughter will never ever get to read magazines like yours,” posted an outraged mother.
Anne Minor Christensen from the National association for eating disorders and self-harm is upset about the controversial picture and believes it shows the fashion industry has not progressed much.
“If you consider how long we’ve been fighting to change the fashion industry's preferences of how thin models should be, this picture shows we haven’t come very far," Christensen commented in Jyllands-Posten.
Don't add to her grief
The Scoop Models Agency, on the other hand, is concerned about the negative attention their model has received and asked the public to show more consideration.
"The model is already in a deep grief over two deaths in her family and therefore it is important for us that people use a respectful tone and don’t talk about her as being sick, because she is not,” Bente Lundquist, the director of Scoop Models, noted.
