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| Plus-sized model Tara Lynn retouched for a print advertisement in V Magazine. Read more: http://fox40.com/health-and-fitness/stories/fake-beauty/#ixzz2fahiPRhq |
Once upon a time, before the late 80's when photoshop was first published, there was a time when women would flip through their favourite magazine and daydream of having the same beauty as celebrities in which they idolised obtained. Even before airbrushing, and retouching was a popular term known to the advertising industry, women (and men) have always experienced a time in their life in which they wish they could be, look, or act like someone else they assume is perfect. But nowadays, in this media savvy modern would in which we live in, there has become a much greater pressure upon the average woman to attain this perfect image which society has drawn for us. Photoshop has become such an essential tool in advertising and it seems that now the whole world is aware of what it is, and what it can accomplish. We are also aware of the damage is has caused to societies expectations of the average looking woman or man, and this is something that defiantly needs to be addressed before it somehow gets worse.
Now, I'm not denying that photoshop isn't a wonderful and useful tool. As a designer, photoshop is one of my most used applications that I tend to use on a daily bases. Photoshop gives designers and photographers the freedom to create beautiful things. But I do believe there is such a thing as abusing photoshop. There is a fine line between better-ing a photograph, and completely altering the image to the point where it can be defined as lying. What I'm trying to say is that, since photoshop has been used to death in majority of our advertisements, society has now raised the bar of beauty to levels of perfection which are merely just impossible for the average person. Since our societies expectations are so high, this is causing men and women to become much more susceptible to self esteem issues, eating disorders, addiction, depression, feelings of failure, and in extreme cases, thoughts of suicide. Since we are constantly being forced to gawk at all these images of perfect looking beings, we have come to believe that this is the way we should look, and if you don't meet these standards, well then you're not attractive. Which is so saddening, and quite disturbing to think about. Why has society decided that we should all fit into this "perfect" category? And that being thin, or having clear skin makes you an appealing individual? Why can't we all realise that if everyone looked the same, and all so perfect, our world would be such a dull, and boring place to live?
Furthermore, I do understand and believe that photoshop can be used to help convince someone to respond to an advertisement, and can also make it more visually appealing. There are ways of editing a photograph in such a way, which can help the consumers' attention, and make them want to potentially purchase the item that is being advertised. But I do believe that there is a way in which photoshopping an image to the extreme (such as cutting out areas of body parts) can be considered lying. Why do we have to cut off an inch of two of a model's waist? Does this really make a difference in whether or not the consumer will actually purchase the item? Or has society set such high standards of what women and men should look like, that is has become the norm to photoshop all photographs of models to the extreme? I think we all have come to realise that 99% of models' advertisements are photoshopped, and we all somewhat know in the back of our mind that these models don't really look this perfect on a daily basis, so why do we continue to make them appear this way? What kind of standard is this going to set for our future? Is it going to continue to get worse or will society finally realise that every body shape, and form should be appreciated?
I can only hope for the latter, but the way media is expanding more and more everyday, I doubt there will ever be a drastic change in the photo-editing world. Photoshop is just going to continue to expand and become quicker and more efficient for photo-editing, and advertiser's are always going to take advantage of this product. All I can hope for is that it will get toned down a bit, and somehow in the future our model's advertisements can appear more real, and attainable.
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