Just when you thought the Photoshop debacle was dying down, Ralph Lauren is finding itself in even more hot water. Reports have surfaced that the American clothing brand has fired one of their models for being too fat.

A few weeks ago Filippa Hamilton and the brand were at the center of media attention when a severely Photoshopped picture was leaked, depicting a gaunt Filippa whose head appeared larger than her waist!

Ralph Lauren issued a public apology for the image at the time, but now they’ve been caught in an even bigger media storm. The 5 foot 10 inches model, who weighs only 120 pounds, was fired by the brand “as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract”. Filippa and her agency say Ralph Lauren told her she couldn’t fit into their clothes anymore, even after the apparel-maker issued a statement saying the 23-year-old was “beautiful and healthy”.

On The Today Show (above) Filippa hit back at the clothing brand and spoke about her weight.

The ghastly image in the above Ralph Lauren ad of an emaciated alien-like model has buzzed through the blogosphere in the past couple of days thanks to the website Boing Boing. A Boing Boing blogger reproduced the ad and gave this rather juvenile but poignant critique, “Dude, her head’s bigger than her pelvis.”

Ralph Lauren corporation first responded by accusing Boing Boing of copyright infringement. However Boing Boing noted that according to the law their coverage of the ad is “classic fair use: a reproduction ‘for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting.” As the battle between the two parties has grown newspapers and television news media around the world has reported on the photoshopped image. Considering the hoopla these days with the growing popularity of plus-sized models vs. the inhuman anorexic models, Ralph Lauren finally had to cave in and release this statement:

“For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the calibre of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.”

In the US, a country with soaring obesity rates as well as thousands of girls suffering from anorexia and eating disorders it’s time to change the phrase ‘the poor keep getting poorer and the rich getting richer’ and the new slogan should be ‘the skinny keep getting skinnier and the fat keep getting fatter.’

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