Sir, - In an effort to provide my young daughters with a shield against anorexia and other eating disorders I have always encouraged them to adopt a realistic acceptance of the many varied body shapes. I was horrified to view the current television commercial from our leading brewers wherein the young man on the bus abandons his rural roots for the city while bemoaning the thick ankles of village girls.
This puerile criterion for rejection reinforces the cult of slimming now rampant in teen magazines and also evident in malnourished models posing in adult fashion publications.
The agency responsible for this sexist production has overlooked the fact that many young men who imbibe that product to excess find themselves overweight and carrying a beer-gut before the age of 30. The robust rural women in the area where I live would not cross the road to meet such unattractive specimens.
The bad news for our bus traveller is the fact that this avoidance would include women with ankles of all shapes and sizes, nay even wooden legs. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Reynolds, Ashford, Co Wicklow.