Virtual Beauty

Last week I stumbled into a mini firestorm.  Apparently real women are not en vogue right now for modeling.  The H&M clothing company has decided to use virtual models for swim suit and lingerie models.  They’ve been criticized heavily for this choice.  They were accused of “creating unrealistic physical ideals” by a Norwegian company in the ABC News article I read, while the company defends its position to simply show off the clothes.

What I’m trying to figure out is how this is any different from the live models that are usually used especially for these types of clothing?  My body doesn’t look like a swimsuit model’s, and I have no illusions that it does.  So if most women don’t look like models, how is this affecting the self image of women any worse that live models?  Help me out.  Am I missing something.  Real of virtual?  Does it make a difference?