Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Photo Retouching in Advertising- Yay or Nay


Recently Glamour Magazine came out with an article focusing on photo retouching being used in reader's personal pictures, magazines themselves, as well as advertisements. The article delved into the ethics behind photo retouching, what was considered fair game and what was a no go.

Glamour conducted a survey of 1,000 women from the ages 18-40 and found some interesting data. 60% of women thought it was okay to retouch their own photos, while 43% thought it was okay for magazines to do so and 39% for advertisements. For those who felt it was acceptable for magazine/advertisements to retouch photos, the reasoning behind retouching was only okay with readers if it dealt with the removal of blemishes, stray hairs, or wrinkles in clothing. However, only 22% thought it was fine to make a woman look 5 pounds slimmer.

So then, what kind of retouching is acceptable for advertisers to use? From the above picture you can see two obviously different pictures of Britney Spears, the original and then the retouched. As for blemishes, stray hairs, and wrinkled clothing, not much seems to have been altered. The only "acceptable" alteration would possibly be Britney's bruises. Otherwise, both her waist and thighs are noticeably slimmer.

As advertisers we are selling a product and want to showcase the product's sponsor in the best light possible. This usually means their most beautiful, and often skinniest version. However, how far is too far when altering their body image. Especially for beauty and fashion products, sponsor's body size can have a great impact on the target audience.


All in all, a little photo retouching is necessary to convey the best side of the product and sponsor. However, editing a person's body to unrecognizable and unattainable standards is going too far. Advertiser's also have to think of how they are affecting their audience socially and mentally. What do you think? Is photo retouching a Yay or Nay?

This ad was found at http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2010/04/britney-spears-pictures-unaltered/

12 comments:

  1. I do not think that photo retouching is acceptable. Photo retouching leads to many serious problems, especially in girls and women such as eating disorders and confidence issues. Photo retouching makes females feel like the only way that they can be accepted as beautiful is to weigh 100 pounds, have perfect hair, skin, and teeth. It's sad to know that girls would have a completely different perspective on beauty if they really knew what the models in their favorite ads looked like before they were photo shopped.

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