What do fashion ads tell us?

Some designer has chosen 12 year old Dakota Fanning to model his latest women's line. A few people have blogged about it, some here, here and here. They have done a god job of covering the whole 'sexualization of a child thing' so I'll just excerpt Reverse Paranoia:

...while society doesn’t condone pedophilia in practice, media mavens the world around would nevertheless like the idea of fucking a child to get the Masturbation Pedestal Treatment. Specifically, a girl child, since I haven’t seen anyone try to sell women on the idea of rubbing one out to the vapid image of a pre-pubescent boy in tailor-made Versace pants.
...
But conflating the womanly ideal of beauty with actual childhood is something else. Ads are meant to evoke desire: desire to be, or to be with, depending on the viewer. The object of desire, in this case, is a little girl.
...
Thumbsucking, after all, is only 4,764 steps removed from cocksucking. Which is what us women girls do best.

Strong words. I wanted to see the pic's for myself before forming an opinion, and found them here. Yeah, they're bit weird. What I can't figure out is why I would want to buy some clothes that I see on a 12-year-old.

In the bigger picture, what is the purpose of models? Cat Lady from Reverse Paranoia says "to evoke the desire to be". I agree, but in my mind I phrase it as "I will look like and be like that person if I buy this product." So models should be people we want to look like or be like. I like Dakota. I think she's a good actress. But I do not want to look like a 12-year-old, or be like a 12-year-old. I am a bit upset about being 31, but I would settle for 27 :)

When I look in fashion magazines lately (it doesn't happen too often), I see creepy starving girls, with sunken eyes. What the hell is with heroin chic? I understand goth, but I don't want to be starving, or drug addicted. I'm not sure how these ads are supposed to inspire me to buy the clothes they are selling.

Maybe if I'm skinny with a drug addiction I won't need to worry about paying the bills, or going to work, or what to feed the kids for supper, or how to lose 30 pounds. I guess that sounds attractive. If I'm hopeless and helpless and skinny, I can find some man to take care of me (and own me and use me up and throw me out.)

No, I'm pretty sure I want to buy clothes that will look good on my 31-year-old body.