How Is Photoshop Used In Shanging Our Beauty Standards

Photoshop Use in AdvertisingChanging Our Beauty Standards

Photoshop is not a bad thing. In fact it is a very useful tool and a photographer’s best friend, but it has been used and abused for too long. It has been used to create the image of ideal beauty and the perfect women. All across the world, women, men, young girls, and young boys are trying to uphold this standard and become this perfect person. This is not possible because this perfect person is not real. This personey does not exist. The images we see every day in advertisements across the United States are cunningly crafted images that are far from the original image. In real life, models do not look anything like they do in advertisements. Cindy Crawford once said, “I wish I looked

It can also be used to ridicule and poke fun. In Touch magazine recently featured a cover with a photo of Bruce Jenner and a title that said “My Life as a Woman”. It has been speculated that Bruce Jenner is undergoing a sex change. This cover was a completely artificial image created with a pictured of Stephanie Beacham and a lot of Photoshop (McDonald). This was meant to be hurtful and to ridicule and poke fun at a man who may be going through an extremely hard emotional time. This plays on another extremely sensitive subject of transgender issues and equality. This image is obviously Photoshopped; so obvious in fact, that it seems to be poking fun in a way because the editing is so ridiculous and over the top. Regardless, not everyone may have realized this image was Photoshopped. Once you know, it is easy to see, but how many people were fooled into thinking the images was, to some degree, real? This is a solid example of what may have been prevented with a simple label saying “Warning: This Image has been Photoshopped”. This cover most likely would not have happened if labeling existed because with a label the image would have been completely ineffective. Most of the time when Photoshop is used for something this offensive it is a bit more subtle. The problem is that many of us may not even realize what harm can be done with a little bit of

Allison Tuschannen brings up an idea in an essay that may help increase the effectiveness of Photoshop labeling. She suggests a labeling system or certification similar to the one used to label organic produce. It would be a standardized label (a logo?) for all images that are Photoshop free. She calls it an incentive or reward system to help convince photo editors to use less Photoshop in advertisements (454-456). If this labeling system was issued and controlled by the Government it could be far more effective than some of the labels used in magazines now, which vary depending on the magazine and are completely voluntary. Guidelines could be produced and a standardized label could be created. Tuschannen suggests that the labels be created to catch the eye (454). This would attract the viewer’s attention to the fact that the image he or she is looking at is not real and is not a Photoshop creation. Consumers are sick of perfect women in advertising; tired of how these advertisements make them feel. A system like this could boost sales and increase magazine or advertisement popularity along with boosting consumers’ self-esteem and increase body image by creating positive role-models. Consumers would most likely look for this label and support companies who followed this system, similar to how consumers look for labeled or “certified” organic produce. A reward system coupled with warning