TWO EGG, Florida - Big-N-Beautiful is not your typical modeling agency. But then again, it doesn't have a portfolio of typical models. "You don't normally hear 'model' and 'waddle' in the same sentence," remarked BNB's President and Founder, Bea Marplin, "But we don't think there's anything wrong with showing off a real woman."

It seems the market would agree with her. A recent survey performed for Dove Moisturizing Cream showed that women want to see ads that better represent themselves. "I don't want to look at some rail-thin 18-year-old," complained one mother of two, "I've pushed two beautiful children through these hips and I'm proud of 'em. Show me what your make-up looks like on a well-fed soccer-mom, then maybe I'll buy some."

"Women don't want to see themselves in ads," explained psychologist Ivana Splainu, "They want to see someone uglier than themselves. If I weigh a hundred and sixty pounds, I want to see a one-eighty or two-hundred up there showing off. I don't want to think, 'I can look as good as her,' I want to think, 'I can look better than her!'"

Opponents of the growing trend toward mammoth models point to potential for damage to the models' self-esteem. "Don't tell me that when a girl is told she could be a fatty model, that it isn't going to hurt her feelings," said Polly Shuman. Shuman is organizing a grass-roots effort to stamp out so-called "ugly-ads". "These women need to be shown that they can rebuild and reshape their bodies into something beautiful, instead of being exploited because they're not."

"I don't need her pity," said 280-pound Lisa Tootun, "I'm making far more now than I ever did in the school cafeteria. And I'm meeting a much nicer group of people!"

"I hope she's putting some of it toward Jenny Craig," remarked Shuman.
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