This document discusses the debate around altering photographs through photoshopping. It notes concerns that photoshopping unrealistic body images can negatively impact body image, especially for children and adolescents. Some organizations have called for guidelines and warning labels on photoshopped images. The document outlines arguments both for and against photoshopping, and considers related ethical questions around freedom of expression, potential for harm, and government regulation.

1. Photoshop Fiction
{
14-15 Ethics Bowl Case 14

4. Anti-Photoshop*
{ *In excessive, unrealistic amounts

5.  Discourage the altering of photographs that promote impossible-to-achieve
expectations of body images and proportions
 “Such alternations can contribute to unrealistic expectations of
appropriate body image—especially among impressionable
children and adolescents”
 Adopted a new policy encouraging ad agencies to collaborate with
agencies devoted to child and adolescent health to develop
guidelines for ads
 “We must stop exposing impressionable children and teenagers to
advertisements portraying models with body types only attainable
with the help of photo editing software.”
 2009 Ralph Lauren ad: “a model’s waist as slimmed so severely, her
head appeared to be wider than her waist.”
American Medical
Association

8.  “Airbrushing creates a false impression of beauty…The results
put pressure on women and young girls who compare themselves
unfavorably to the unrealistic images.”-Jo Swinson (D)
 L’Oreal admitted the ad had been digitally retouched to “lighten
the skin, clean up make-up, reduce dark shadows and shading
around the eyes, smooth the lips and darken the eyebrows.”
 Insisted the image was “an accurate reflection of the benefits of
the product”
 Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled the images could
not be used “in their current form”
 An Olay anti-aging product ad was banned in 2009.
 Campaign for Body Confidence: called on advertisers to be
honest about their use of airbrushing
 “With one in four people feeling depressed about their body, it’s time
to consider how these idealized images are distorting our idea of
beauty.”
Ads Banned Over Airbrushing (2011)

12.  France
 Concerned about the effect that Photoshopping has on people’s body images
 Proposed a law that would require “enhanced” images to sport a warning, making
it clear that viewers are not looking at an un-retouched image
 Would apply to ads, press photos, political campaigns, art photography, and
photos on product packaging
 Failure to include disclaimer=fine of $55,000 or up to 50% of the cost of the
campaign
 50 French politicians have gotten behind the law.
 French fashion industry has already agreed to refrain from using images that
promote “extreme thinness”
 “These images can warp how normal people see themselves, especially
teenagers who are particularly prone to developing body issues…The
disclaimer would help bring youngsters back to reality and promote a
healthier body image for all.”
 “It’s not just a question of public health, but a way of protecting the
consumer.”
 Australian government and British government called for similar disclaimers
WARNING: Photo retouched to modify the physical
Warning appearance Labels of a person
on Unrealistic Images

13.  Walk on all fours
 Incapable of lifting her large head
 2” larger than the average American woman’s
 Nick twice as long and 6” thinner
 16” waist
 Room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine
 BMI of 16.24 (18.5 is the lowest end of “normal”)
 3.5” wrists
 6” ankles
 Incapable of heavy lifting
 Children’s size 3 feet
 1 in 50 men would have Ken’s proportions
 Less than 1 in 100,000 would have Barbie’s proportions
Barbie

15. Pro Photoshop*
{ *And pro change in perception

16.  How many adult women actually take the images in fashion
magazines—artificial as they are, feats of makeup and lighting
and camera angles, even without retouching—at face value? “Our
readers are not idiots.” Most of us who read fashion magazines
don’t’ feel we’re confronting reality when we see a photograph of a
grown woman with preteen thighs.
 Our interest in altered images is not purely moral; it’s also
aesthetic. We believe that a picture should convey, “objectively,”
without undue intervention, what the lens originally captured.
 Many contemporary images are illustrations masquerading as
photographs, cartoons composed with a computer rather than a
pen. Retouched pictures simply claim the traditional prerogatives
of illustrations: to exaggerate, accentuate, and improve upon their
subjects—basically to lie. For much of the last century, models and
movie stars in fashion magazines and advertisements were often
rendered as drawings and paintings.

17. Gil Elvgren, 1937-1950s

18. “The women are libidinous
fantasies…His pinups were
even more outlandish in
their homogenized well-endowedness”
Gil Elvgren

19. Alberto Vargas, 1940s pin-up artist

20. “The melon-breasted, small-waisted
sameness of his
images invented something
of a new pulp genre:
physiological science
fiction.”
Alberto Vargas

21. People in other cultures see
our advertisements and our
supposed ideal of beauty and
they strive to look like that,
too, because they associate it
with power.
Impact on Other Cultures

22.  Does the right to freedom of speech and expression have
any limits? If so, what kinds of limits ought there be, and
how are they justified?
 Is it ethical for the media to portray an unrealistic and
unattainable body image when the potential for harm is
widely known?
 If Photoshopping does have negative psychological effects,
does the government have a duty to minimize these
harms?
 What type or regulation is acceptable? Warning labels?
Bans?
 When, if ever, does Photoshopping constitute deception?
Questions to Consider

23. How advertisements
might* look if they
stated the things many
people feel…
{ *MIGHT