Argument for Photoshopping Models in Advertisements
In the marketing and design world, it’s no secret that they retouch the models in their photos to look slimmer and more radiant. I will honestly say that a year ago, my opinion on that would have been negative. As a big–boned woman with a self–proclaimed shameless view on life, I could never understand why we need to keep feeding into an imaginary image of beauty. No one, and I mean no one, wakes up looking completely polished, glowing and every hair in place. It takes a long time to look like that. I mean, we’re human and are susceptible to err, even if our job is to literally look flawless. But, these models have a whole team of people whose jobs are to make them look good—all the time. Man, if only we all had that.
Now, that I have grown older, have met more people, and have an insiders look into the world of design that not many have had a chance to experience, I can confidently say my opinion has changed. Instead of turning to these marketers and designers whose jobs are to literally attract and sell us things, and blame them for controlling us and poisoning our minds with these unnatural and unattainable images of beauty, I think we should be instead looking at ourselves. In the end, we made the decision to feel the way we do. No one is in our head, physically making the neurons fire, like puppets on a string. Instead we let the better of ourselves succumb to someone else’s imagination and stupidly think it’s real. I think of it as the same as when I was a little girl and watching a scary movie. My parents would tell me that none of it was real and that it was all make–believe. It may have taken a little reassuring, but eventually I wouldn’t be scared of the movie anymore. Why don’t we do this with advertisements?
It is fact that we as humans find symmetry in someone’s features beautiful, not to mention that our eyes and brains find balance and symmetry, in pretty much anything, to be relaxing and enjoyable to look at. So, I ask, how else are we supposed to entertain with anything if we can’t use this extremely powerful aspect of human nature? I mean seriously. Let’s be realistic here. These ads aren’t going anywhere, they are the life force of pretty much everything we see and do. As someone who dibbles in Photoshop and Lightroom on a daily basis, it’s a form of digital art. Heck, I even paint cartoon cats purple, and no one complains that that will forever mess them up into thinking their cat should be purple now.
I realize people would argue that it’s different. These ads have real people, chosen to connect with the consumer, ultimately and subconsciously brainwashing them through the connection. But my honest opinion is that once they’re finished putting that person through Photoshop, that person is no longer them. It’s a digital art copy of what they look like, but not them. It’s a collection of shapes and colours working together so that it’s beautiful to look at, and is completely different from looking at someone who is not in the modelling business. These models get paid big bucks so that designers can make digital art copies of them that are manipulated and changed to all sorts of degrees, and it's ok.
For instance, with regards to stuff like this, it would be a heavy nope to going to Forever21 and looking at those pants if the model was advertised with her uncomfortably stuffed into the legs and her muffin top hanging out (which is usually how I feel when I try on pants like that). Instead she looks confident and attractive, so ya I’m interested. I like shopping and buying new clothes. If they didn’t advertise how good the clothes look, whether real or not, I wouldn’t know where to go. But when I try on a pair of those pants, and I don’t look as good as the models in the store ads, I don’t blame the advertisers for making me feel like I could wear them, or that I should strive to look like the model in order to wear them. Instead, it’s a “these pants are not for me,” or “maybe I need a bigger size,” and nothing more. I’m able to do this because I know the visuals in the ad that brought me to the store are make–believe.
We need to teach our sons and daughters that those models in the pictures are fake, they’re not real. Comparing yourself to that should be like comparing yourself to a unicorn. There’s no point.