NEW YORK — Feb. 4, 2010 — For Immediate Release — Whitney Thompson, winner of Cycle 10, America’s Next Top Model – and the show’s first “full-figured” victor – has become an official ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), joining the battle against eating disorders and unrealistic “body-perfect” ideals.

Selected by MSNBC as one of 2008’s “12 Most Influential Women of the Year,” Thompson has graced the covers of numerous magazines including Seventeen and Plus. Now under contract with the prestigious Wilhelmina Model Management, she has been a spokesperson for Cover Girl Cosmetics, Fashion Bug Right Fit Jeans and Olitsky Smiles Cosmetic Dentistry, and has modeled for Forever 21, J.C. Penney, Saks Fifth Avenue and Woman Within, among others. She was also a spokesperson for Multiple Sclerosis in 2009 and is a motivational speaker for the promotion of positive body image.

Commented Thompson, “I am thrilled to be an ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association.  Since winning Top Model, I have heard from thousands of people all over the world who are dealing with eating disorders. I want to support those people affected and their families and I want to help people identify and resist the social stereotypes and images that lead to unhealthy behavioral patterns.”

Commented Lynn Grefe, CEO of NEDA. “We welcome the enthusiasm and energy of Whitney to our cause and the ability of her celebrity to bring a spotlight to a very serious and deadly subject. It is a particular concern within the modeling and fashion industries and the support of Whitney and our other ambassadors are key to changing the way people think about body image.”

 

Thompson joins other NEDA Ambassadors Emme, supermodel, TV personality, author and women’s advocate; fashion designer Bradley Bayou; celebrity jewelry designer Elizabeth Showers; actress Karla Mosley (Guiding Light); former professional tennis player Zina Garrison; motivational speaker and author Jenni Schaefer; author, documentarian and social theorist Jean Kilbourne, Ed. D.; “actionist,” author and advice columnist Jessica Weiner; personal life coach Kristen Moeller; and Matan Uziel, senior executive of Israeli modeling agency Verbmodels and founder of Warmhome Media Group, an international advertising network.

 

The announcement comes just prior to observance of the 23^rd annual National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Feb. 21-27, and Thompson is supporting the outreach with motivational speaking engagements on college campuses across the country. Additionally, Thompson recently launched Supermodel (www.shopsupermodel.com), a line of scented, soy-based massage oil candles and jewelry, and has committed $1 from each sale as a donation to NEDA.

 

Themed It’s Time to Talk About it! this year, NEDAwareness Week is the non-profit group’s largest public outreach campaign, held each year to raise consciousness across the country about the potentially life-threatening seriousness of eating disorders and the societal pressures, attitudes and behaviors which contribute to them. Also to spread a message of hope: Help is available, recovery is possible and those affected are not alone in their struggle!

 

Continues Grefe, “It really is time to talk about eating disorders, because people die, with anorexia having the highest death rate of any mental illness. You wouldn’t be ashamed of developing asthma, diabetes, cancer or hundreds of other medical conditions. The sooner we get people to talk about it, the sooner we can get people to the help they need. It is necessary to educate upcoming generations about the issues that surround and lead to eating disorders. And to do that, we also need to address the societal pressures and the unrealistic images we are bombarded with in the media that have been irrefutably and scientifically proven a contributing factor among people who develop eating disorders, depression and other esteem issues.”

 

NEDAwareness Week 2010 is already generating interest nationwide, with volunteers coordinating events throughout the country using their local media muscle to spread the word about eating disorders. During this week, hundreds of events will be held in communities coast to coast, offering an opportunity for people to gather information and learn how to support those with eating disorders. 

 

Among the events planned: Seminars and workshops on college campuses and in other venues; film festivals; health fairs and screenings; awareness walks; candlelight vigils; fundraisers; artistic performances and Great Jeans Giveways to encourage people to get rid of jeans that don’t fit and to buy jeans that fit the real person. And in downtown Seattle, NEDA Laugh? is being held on Feb. 18, a comedy night benefit for NEDA. 

 

 

·         The peak onset of eating disorders occurs during puberty and the late teen/early adult years, but symptoms can occur as young as kindergarten. Eighty percent of all 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat.

 

·        There has been a rise in the incidence of anorexia in young women ages 15-19 in each decade since 1930.

 

 

·        Over the course of one person’s lifetime, at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of eating disorders.

 

·        Eating disorders affect people from all walks of life, including young children, middle-aged women, men and individuals of all races and ethnicities.

 

·         According to the National Institute of Mental Health, eating disorders are serious illnesses with a bio-logical basis modified and influenced by emotional and cultural factors. They are not lifestyle choices.

 

 

NEDA announced that it has joined leading experts on body image issues from around the world to pledge its support of the global launch of the Real Women campaign, which condemns the use of ultra-thin, digitally altered women in advertisements. 

 

A research paper released Nov. 9, The Impact of Media Images on Body Image and Behaviours: A Summary of the Scientific Evidence* examinesthe psychological effects of consumer society on individuals, particularly media influences on body dissatisfaction, materialism and dysfunctional buying behavior. Signed by 45 leading academics, doctors and clinical psychologists from the U.S.A., England, Australia, Brazil, Spain and Ireland, it details scientific evidence on how the use of airbrushing to promote “body perfect” ideals in advertising is a root cause of an array of serious problems in young women, including eating disorders, depression, extreme exercising and an increase in cosmetic surgery. 

 

The Real Women campaign launched in the U.K. in August – which is now growing into a worldwide endeavor – encouraged people to complain about airbrushing to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) to force advertisers to identify airbrushed images and to ban it in ads aimed at children. Nearly 1,000 people took action. ASA and CAP responded by asking for scientific evidence to back the campaign’s assertions.

 

The newly released paper provides that documentation and NEDA supports the work of these experts, some of whom are founders and committee members of the organization.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), headquartered in Seattle, Wash., a not-for-profit organization, supports individuals and families affected by eating disorders and advocates for prevention, treatment and research funding for eating disorders. Since the inception of its Helpline in 1999, NEDA has referred more than 50,000 people to treatment and tallies more than 40 million hits annually on its Web site. For more information on eating disorders, visit www.NationalEatingDisorders.org. 

 

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Or Contact NEDA’s Live Helpline: 800-931-2237
Monday – Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (PST)

 

 

 

 

 

Greenleaf & Associates – 323-660-5800

 

Vicki Greenleaf — vicki@greenleafandassociates.com

 

Karen Brundage — karen@greenleafandassociates.com