People who appear in advertisements aimed at under-16s should not be airbrushed or enhanced to make them look more attractive, the Liberal Democrats said today

The Advertising Standards Authority should also draw up new rules so that advertisements aimed at adults should indicate if images have been airbrushed.

The suggestions are part of a major campaign today launched by the Liberal Democrats after The Times revealed that catwalk designers are pushing ever thinner models into fashion magazines despite widespread public concern over “size-zero”.

Alexandra Shulman, editor of Vogue, accused designers of making magazines hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” by supplying them with “minuscule” garments for their photo shoots. Vogue frequently retouched photographs to make models look larger, she said.

The garments are typically sent to magazines six months before they appear in the shops and editors have no choice but to hire models that fit the clothes or fail to cover the latest collections from the leading designers.

About 1.1 million people are affected by anorexia or bulimia, according to Beat, Britain’s leading eating disorder charity.

The Liberal Democrats want to put pressure on the fashion and cosmetic surgery industry to prevent their advertisements encouraging teenage anorexia.

Jo Swinson, the party’s spokeswoman on women, has called for age-appropriate lessons on body image, health and wellbeing to be taught in schools. She also believes that advertising for cosmetic surgery should include information about success rates.

Schools must also play a bigger part in preventing teenage girls from dropping out of exercise classes and giving them a greater choice of physical activities and discounted sports club membership for children.

Ms Swinson told The Times: “Today's unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means that young girls are under more pressure now than they were even five years ago. Airbrushing means that adverts contain completely unattainable images that no one can live up to in real life.

“We need to help protect children from these pressures and we need to make a start by banning airbrushing in adverts aimed at them.

“The focus on women's appearance has got out of hand — no one really has perfect skin, perfect hair and a perfect figure, but women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than thin and perfect will do.”

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