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The equalities minister has informed an international summit about the importance of promoting positive body image.
Speaking at the 'Endangered Species' conference in the Royal Festival Hall on Friday, Lynne Featherstone called for a collaborative approach to tackling the factors which result in body confidence issues.
She said: "Our television programmes, our magazines, our adverts are producing what they think we want to see and what they think that we will buy.
"But if each and every member of the public who felt strongly about this issue were to make their voices heard the possibilities for change are huge."
The minister added: "If we work together then we will herald in a sustainable and lasting change."
Featherstone highlighted her office's work in tackling the harm caused by pressure to conform to unrealistic and unhealthy body image ideals.
The MP for Hornsey and Wood Green discussed a new advisory panel she convened last year comprising experts from government, healthcare and the fashion and beauty industry, seeking to provide a "joined up, co-ordinated push to tackle problems of body image".
But the minister noted that answers to these problems lay in a cultural not legislative approach.
Featherstone said: "This isn't a legislative opportunity. It is about coalition building. As a minister I am uniquely placed to do this.
"We need a cultural shift. Unfortunately a heavy-handed solution will not work."
Adding to this was Suzie Orbach, a social critic and activist who was chairing the summit.
Orbach told the audience: "It is not enough to change the practical, legislative aspects of the system. We really have to change consciousness."
Following Featherstone's speech, the summit closed with a final panel session Implementing Change: What will you pledge?
Participants in the discussion, joining Orbach and Featherstone, were Rosi Prescott, the ceo of YMCA and Kiki Kendrick, a consultant for pioneering ethical agency Host Universal and an actress and playwright.
Subjects raised included the importance of promoting positive body image amongst men and those with disabilities and the feasibility of more rigid advertising regulation.
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