“An Aspirational Picture”
As I noted a couple of years back, in my “Photoshop Phun” post:
No matter how perfect your diet and workout is, you will never be perfect. Ever. You will never look like the beauties gracing magazine covers and advertisements. Don’t even imagine you can go there.
Sad to say, little has changed since then, despite efforts to expose the trickery and educate people. Still, it’s nice to see some pushback… particularly when it’s reported by a large media outlet like CNN:
(CNN) — Make-up advertisements featuring actor Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington have been banned in the UK because of their controversial use of ‘airbrushing’.
Britain’s Advertising Standards Agency issued the ban after politician Jo Swinson complained about the two ads, for foundation products made by L’Oreal’s Maybelline and Lancôme brands.
L’Oreal admitted the photographs it used had been digitally manipulated and retouched.
But the cosmetics giant claimed they “accurately illustrated” the effects their make-up — Maybelline’s The Eraser anti-ageing foundation and Lancôme’s Teint Miracle –could achieve.
The company described the Roberts image — taken by celebrity photographer Mario Testino — as an “aspirational picture.”
…Swinson, who has waged a long-running campaign against the use of “unrealistic” images in fashion and advertising, said it was “shocking” that the ASA had not been allowed to see the original version of the Roberts photograph.
“It shows just how ridiculous things have become when there is such fear over an un-airbrushed photo that even the advertising regulator isn’t permitted to see it.”
Of course, it’s not hard to guess what Roberts’ un-airbrushed pic might look like. She’s in her 40’s, and undoubtedly has laugh lines and other small imperfections… just like anyone else. CNN’s choice of comparison pic certainly demonstrates that Roberts is a beautiful woman, but she’s far from the ageless, pore-less Barbie doll the ad portrays.
TBH, I think the ad is a worthy candidate for “Photoshop Disasters” – Roberts’ face has been so heavily retouched, that the curved, unnaturally-smoothed lips are the only remnants of her smile. The “artist” erased all traces of the facial changes (visible in the unretouched pic on the right) that normally accompany the gesture. Personally, I think the effect is more creepy than “aspirational.”
