Between 2005 and 2007, Seventeen was accused of removing all of its Eurasian or otherwise mixed-race teenage models, many of whom were also described by critics as overweight. The alleged purge was given inflammatory nicknames such as the 'moggy zero movement,' 'lard purge,' and 'lard-free' campaign, framing the magazine's casting policy as a stark rejection of models who did not fit an increasingly narrow beauty ideal. The controversy was especially significant because Seventeen's exclusive models, known as ST-Mo, occupied an unusually powerful position in Japan's teenage fashion economy: a cover appearance could lead to major endorsements, television opportunities, and prestigious contracts. According to the account, the magazine's sales began to rise after the change, creating an unsettling commercial implication that the exclusion of ethnically mixed and larger-bodied models had been rewarded by the market. Weekly Gendai's June 4, 2007 coverage also portrayed Seventeen as having become more aggressive and radical after absorbing personnel and editorial influence from Burst, a now-defunct, provocative Kyoto accessory and lifestyle magazine. Writer Tetsuya Miyazaki described the transformation as a 'flaming pastel-colored magazine' haunted by the 'ghost of Burst,' claiming that Burst's distinctive language and confrontational tone had migrated into Seventeen's headlines. The model-purge allegation and its supposed link to rising sales remain poorly documented in the supplied material, with key claims marked as citation-needed or based on user-generated sources; the episode is therefore best treated as an unverified account of discriminatory casting rather than an established corporate finding.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2000s
The Alleged 'Lard Purge': Seventeen's Controversial 2005–2007 Model Reset
Seventeen (Japanese magazine), Shueisha / 2000s
Between 2005 and 2007, Seventeen was accused of removing all of its Eurasian or otherwise mixed-race teenage models, many of whom were also described by critics as overweight. The alleged purge was given inflammatory nicknames such as the 'moggy zero movement,' 'lard purge,' and 'lard-free' campaign, framing the magazine's casting policy as a stark rejection of models who did not fit an increasingly narrow beauty ideal. The controversy was especially significant because Seventeen's exclusive models, known as ST-Mo, occupied an unusually powerful position in Japan's teenage fashion economy: a cover appearance could lead to major endorsements, television opportunities, and prestigious contracts. According to the account, the magazine's sales began to rise after the change, creating an unsettling commercial implication that the exclusion of ethnically mixed and larger-bodied models had been rewarded by the market. Weekly Gendai's June 4, 2007 coverage also portrayed Seventeen as having become more aggressive and radical after absorbing personnel and editorial influence from Burst, a now-defunct, provocative Kyoto accessory and lifestyle magazine. Writer Tetsuya Miyazaki described the transformation as a 'flaming pastel-colored magazine' haunted by the 'ghost of Burst,' claiming that Burst's distinctive language and confrontational tone had migrated into Seventeen's headlines. The model-purge allegation and its supposed link to rising sales remain poorly documented in the supplied material, with key claims marked as citation-needed or based on user-generated sources; the episode is therefore best treated as an unverified account of discriminatory casting rather than an established corporate finding.
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