GeekSugar

How Some Countries Limit Airbrushed Advertisements

Anna Monette Roberts — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 03:30:13 PDT

Airbrushing and advertising have become synonymous. While Photoshop renders perfect, slender, and flawless-faced images that may sell products or magazine covers, some worry that heavily altered depictions can negatively impact women. The good news is celebrities, companies, and several countries are taking a stand against excessive and unrealistic airbrushing. This week, Israel passed legislation that will place limits on airbrushing in fashion advertisements. Israel's new rules will require all advertisers to label photographs that have received retouching. In addition, the regulations will try to promote healthier body image by requiring all models to have a minimum body mass index of 18.5, which is the minimum weight that the World Health Organization considers standard or healthy.

Australia has attempted similar measures. In 2010, Australia's youth minister Kate Ellis came up with guidelines to ban ultra thin models and heavy retouching. The initiative would require Austrian advertisers to "disclose when images have been retouched and refrain from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example, lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks."

Working to comb through all advertisements, the UK has an independent group called the Advertising Standards Authority, which regulates advertising across all media platforms to ensure that ads are "decent and truthful." While airbrushing is a common occurrence, the agency does ban ads that are highly exaggerated. Recently, Rachel Weisz's L'Oreal's Revitalift Repair 10 ad was banned for its excessive and misleading airbrushing. In the ad, the actress's face was devoid of wrinkles and promoted extremely false advertising.

Back in the US, we don't have specific laws regulating airbrushing, but you can pick up this month's The Economist's Intelligent Life with the cover featuring an untouched Cate Blanchett. The Intelligent Life editor Tim de Lisle explains their decision, "When other magazines photograph actresses, they routinely end up running heavily Photoshopped images, with every last wrinkle expunged . . . Cate Blanchett, by contrast, appears on our cover . . . with the odd line on her face and faint bags under her eyes. She looks like what she is - a woman of 42." Ironically, an un-airbrushed image becomes a sensational news story, but as a public, do we prefer perfect, pretty images or do we really wish to see true portrayals of our celebrities? What do you make of these types of regulations?

Website of the Day: Photoshop Disasters

GeekSugar — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:05:31 PDT

Remember when you used to wait for the dentist as a kid and ate up as much Highlights as humanly possible before your appointment? You were all, I do understand where Goofus went wrong and Gallant was right. And then you got to the two pictures and had to find what was wrong with the second picture? Photoshop Disasters is kind of like that. Except it's just one picture, and you get to scan the pics and figure out were the photoshopper went wrong.

Sometimes it's putting a three-handed woman on a book cover, sometimes there are no finger on the trigger on a movie poster, and my personal fave, photoshops so hilariously bad that you resent the graphic designer for thinking you're so dumb you wouldn't have caught it.

Photoshop Disasters won't search the web for your first attempts at the cloning tool (been there), they seek out commercial stuff in the mainstream, where someone was actually hired to make Heidi Klum look like an alien.

Cindy Crawford's Daughter Makes Her Modeling Debut

BellaSugar — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:52:53 PST

Cindy Crawford's daughter lands her own Versace campaign - Styleite
Pretty palettes that are also handy to have around - Real Simple
Give yourself a Louboutin manicure - Beautylish
This contraption claims to prevent cleavage wrinkles - Stylelist
See how one star gets ready for an awards show - Glo
Is this magazine cover an official Photoshop disaster? - Huffington Post
See all the prettiest new ad campaigns - The Cut
How to track down the perfect gel eyeliner - Refinery 29

Link Time: The FDA Approves a Surprising Botox Alternative

BellaSugar — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 10:40:37 PDT

New FDA-approved LAVIV could be your Botox alternative - Beauty High
The two creams you need to survive cold weather - Stylelist
Scary good: runway-inspired Halloween ideas - Glo
Fall's most popular haircut is . . . - InStyle
Halloween-inspired beauty with benefits - The Fashion Spot
You’ll sparkle for the holidays with Les Scintillances de Chanel - Makeup and Beauty Blog
Winter skin care solutions - This That Beauty
Halloween from your makeup bag - College Candy
Nars 2011 holiday gifting - Temptalia
More Photoshop disasters - Beauty Schooled