Troede seriøst at modebranchen havde fattet at anoreksi er et problem der skal tages alvorligt #covergate #føj pic.twitter.com/HLqSgI79WF
— Benny Engelbrecht (@BennyEngelbrech) February 19, 2015Danish fashion magazine Cover has issued a public apology after featuring a shockingly thin model in the latest issue of the publication.
The image in question instantly caused an outcry on social media, as many expressed their horror over the model's emaciated frame, spawning the hashtag #covergate as well as a Reddit thread titled "corpse or model?"
In response to the backlash, the magazine's founder Malene Malling apologized on Facebook, admitting the publication was at fault for featuring the "all-too-thin" model.
"Today is a sad day for me," she wrote. "On the Cover, we have, through the years, printed tens of thousands of images, but the images of an all-too-thin model in Cover 103 shouldn't be printed.
"I have not lived up to my responsibility as a publisher, woman and mother and am truly sorry," she continued, before noting that the magazine has made an effort to expand upon society's standards of beauty in the past.
"On the Cover we have, in all the years, worked to show an expanded beauty ideal," she said. "Show that you can be beautiful in various ages and various sizes. We have always sought to work with healthy girls."
She also added, in an effort to prove her point, that the publication featured a plus-size model on the cover "two months ago...so it is certainly a subject we focus on."
Despite her apology, the backlash didn't die down, and even Danish Tax Minister Benny Englebrecht took to Twitter to voice his disapproval.
"I seriously thought that the fashion industry had understood that anorexia is a problem that should be taken seriously," he captioned an image of the model.
Back in 2010, the fashion industry's rampant eating disorder dilemma made national news when French model Isabelle Caro passed away due to complications from anorexia nervosa. At 59 pounds, she had famously stripped naked three years prior for an Italian ad campaign, which depicted the dangerous and often deadly effects of eating disorders.