Back in April, French Elle magazine made the news by featuring actresses, such as Monica Bellucci, on the cover without makeup and without re-touching. Since then, Europe has fallen into an anti-Photoshop tizzy. The latest gripe that British officials have is over an Olay Definity advertisement featuring Twiggy, the 1960s model icon.
After complaints from consumers and government officials about the over-airbrushed photo, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the U.K. has banned the advertisements from being shown, citing that the ads give a “misleading impression of the effect the product could achieve.” In other words, they are calling Olay’s bluff that Twiggy doesn’t have more wrinkles.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that we could use less Photoshop and more wrinkles in our advertisements? I immediately think of the recent case against Ralph Lauren when his model’s body was distorted to look like a toothpick in a print advertisement, which is not only unrealistic but also sort of grotesque. Do you think the government has the right to ban these sorts of images?

December 17, 2009 05:30 PM | by