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Recent research into advertising has found that skinny models are actually a turn off to the consumer in TV commercials and other forms of advertising. They found that images of super-thin models carry no edge in encouraging young women to buy and for the majority of adult women adverts showing skinny girls actually discouraged sales.

So-called ‘plus-size models’, on the other hand, actually encouraged them to buy. The study performed by psychologist Phillippa Diedrichs from the University of Queensland, Australia, created a series of ads for underwear, shampoo and a party dress. Each advert was made twice, once using a skinny size eight model and another featuring a size twelve woman.

When women aged between 18 and 25 saw the adverts they felt better – and more likely to buy – after viewing the images of the size twelve models.

Miss Diedrichs said: “For anything to change, research has to be convincing, not just to government and health researchers, but also to people in advertising who actually make the decisions. Often people make the argument that thinness sells, and that’s why they use thin models.”

“But we can change the images we see and still sell products but also make people feel better about themselves.” The soap brand Dove has based its image on a campaign using “real women” and highlighting how much imagery in advertising is manipulated.

There have been concerted campaigns against the ultra-thin “size zero” with fashion weeks in Madrid and Milan banning models from the catwalk that were of a weight deemed unhealthy by the Body Mass Index measure.