New Bill Would Limit The Use Of Photoshopped Models In Ads (IMAGES)

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Everyone knows that sex sells, and over the years advertisers have developed better techniques and acquired more sophisticated tools to make their models appear more attractive to audiences. A new bill being considered by Congress, however, would limit the use of Photoshopped models in ads, especially when they’re aimed at children and teenagers.

Authored by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen?(R-Fla.) and Lois Capps (D-Calif.), the Truth in Advertising Act?would require the Federal Trade Commission to devise a strategy to “reduce the use, in advertising and other media for the promotion of commercial products, of images that have been altered to materially change the physical characteristics of the faces and bodies of the individuals depicted.”

Their justification for the bill stems from evidence that the depiction of “very thin models” in ads lead to “distorted and unrealistic expectations and understandings of appropriate and healthy weight and body image.”

The dissemination of unrealistic body standards has been linked to eating disorders among men and women of varying age groups, but it has a particularly destructive health effect on children and teenagers.

At this point, the details of the bill are pretty fuzzy, if not completely out-of-focus, and advertisers will no doubt have plenty of questions.

Do the authors of the bill not realize that every single print and digital ad you see has been altered in some way? Often the alterations are not done to enhance the attractiveness of a model necessarily but simply to stylize or otherwise adjust the model’s look and feel to fit the tone and purpose of the ad. Would these occasions be limited under the Truth in Advertising Act?

Will ads be required to carry a disclaimer that Photoshopping has been done, similar to Surgeon General’s warnings on cigarettes or proposed GMO labeling on food? Would illustrated or completely computer-generated images of “very thin models” be banned as well?

How will this bill, if enacted, be enforced? Will advertisers be fined or penalized for conveying “unrealistic body standards”??If a model is “naturally” “very thin,” will he or she not be allowed to appear in ads that might be viewed by a young person, even if the photo is untouched?

Is Congress aware that people have suffered from eating disorders long before Photoshop was invented?

Don’t take these questions the wrong way. I applaud ads that insist on showing “real” women. Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign?makes you question why already attractive people need to be retouched in the first place.

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The same can be said for Aerie’s “Real” campaign.

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Indeed, today’s models are Photoshopped too excessively, and often the process results in making the subject look cartoonish. Take, for instance, this Cosmopolitan cover image featuring Britney Spears:

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Britney’s head clearly isn’t attached to her body — if that’s even “her” body. But then, the hands on Michelangelo’s?David?appear disproportionately large compared to the rest of his body, and yet the statue is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest works of art.

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Granted, most ads might not be considered high art, but there’s still an art to altering an image to fit the occasion. And if anything, that’s what Ros-Lehtinen and Capps should be targeting — the occasions in which such excessively Photoshopped ads appear. Trashy magazines directed at teens such as?Cosmo?and?Seventeen?are filled not just with images of unrealistic body standards but also unrealistic sex advice, dating tips, and weight loss strategies. It doesn’t make sense to legislate the images without also legislating the written content that sometimes demands the inclusion of said images.

What young people need is not protection from Photoshop. How can children and teens possibly be shielded from everything we don’t want them to see? Instead, what they need is a more substantial understanding of the differences between a normal, healthy body weight and the fantasy that’s depicted in ads, films, and TV. Instead of going after advertisers, Congress should require that, as part of national education standards, greater emphasis be placed on cultural literacy. If we instruct children to understand the whys and hows of advertising, they might be better prepared to confront the images on the page and screen.

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Joseph Guyer?lives in Texas. An ad man by trade, he firmly agrees?with Bill Clinton that there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be cured by what is right with America. You can read more of his work at?Liberals Unite,?DemoNews, and?SenaReider. You can also follow him on Twitter?@joerobguy.

 

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Joseph Guyer resides in the reddest state in the Union, a wondrous place where pick-up trucks proudly display swinging novelty testicles, fried sticks of butter are deemed safe for human consumption, and female escorts can lawfully be shot for refusing to sleep with you. He firmly agrees with Bill Clinton that there is nothing wrong with America that can't be cured by what is right with America. You can find him on Twitter @joerobguy.