Israeli Laws Banning Underweight Models & Sale of Animal-Tested Products Take Effect

Guest post by Challah Hu Akbar, aka Challah & CHA

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Back in March, Israel’s Knesset “passed a law banning the use of underweight models in advertising.”

On Tuesday, the law went into effect.

Israel's new law banning skinny models has again brought up an uncomfortable topic to the table for the fashion industry, which has long been criticized for seeming to promote unnatural thinness as beauty standard. And once again, countries are divided as to how to deal with the issue of too-skinny models, by law or with other means. 

Israel's law, which went into effect Tuesday, bans models with a body-mass index—a calculation based on height and weight—of less than 18.5 from appearing in advertisements. According to that BMI standard, a female model who is 5 feet, 8 inches tall can weigh no less than 119 pounds. The law also requires publications to disclose when they use altered images of models to make the women and men appear even thinner than they really are. 

The law's supporters in Israel said they hoped it would encourage the use of more healthful models in local advertising.

The law, according to the Jerusalem Post, was initiated by then-Kadima MK Rachel Adatto, and co-sponsored by Likud-Beytenu MK Danny Danon.

In addition to this law, “a law to ban the import or sale of animal-tested products [also] went into effect in Israel” on Tuesday.

The law bans the import, marketing and sale of cosmetics, toiletries or detergents that were tested on animals during the manufacturing process. 

The law follows guidelines set by the European Union in 2004, and makes exceptions for items that are considered medicinal products.