Digital Manipulation

I wanted to write about this topic, because last semester in the course Designing Business Communication, I wrote my paper and did a presentation about this topic. I think it’s a serious problem that models nowadays are being photoshopped (digitally manipulated) to look more thin and/or beautiful…

A lot of research has been done regarding the relationship of reading (fashion)magazines and having a negative self-image. But little research has been done about the photoshopping part in this. Because of the retouching of models and celebrities, girls and women get a negative image of themselves. They want to be just as good looking as the people they see in magazines; but this isn’t realistic, because these people don’t look as pretty in real life as in the magazines. It can lead (young) girls and women to having serious health problems; physically and mentally.

A great example of photo shopping was proposed by Dove in their ‘Campaign for real beauty’. Watch this clip to see for yourself:


This clip was made to make people aware of how it is done in the fashion industry: Photoshop can make everyone turn into a supermodel.

I think it’s very important that readers of fashion magazines will get a more realistic image about the models in advertisements. They need to be aware of the fact that the models they’re seeing in magazines are being manipulated by photoshop to look more beautiful. I think it’s important for readers of fashion magazines that they can relate to the models; nowadays, that’s almost impossible.

Let me know what you think about this!