Photoshopping Ads

Photoshopping ads has been done for many years now. Today's society is obsessed with making near perfect images. Women need to be airbrushed to perfection. No hair out of place, no imperfections. These rules apply to men as well. And drinks. And food. And perfumes. Many see photoshopping ads as wrong. There are lots of blogs that exist for the sole purpose to analyzing overly photoshopped images, bringing to light the obsession of the media over the idea of perfection.

But is it really wrong? Are we that badly affected by the media's portrayal of perfect images?

I'm on the fence with this topic. While I do agree that photoshopping women's bodies to the point of unrealistic features is wrong, I can also agree that using photoshop to enhance minor features, specially used in ads for food or objects, should be allowed.

There are lots of negative connotations behind photoshopping women and men in ads. It creates unrealistic ideals for the consumer, specially young girls and women, of what a person should look like. Many young impressionable girls ad boys look at these ads and think "this is what I need to strive for." Everyone wants to look like a model. This creates a stigma in lots of girls, namely those who end up developing eating disorders to look like that girl in the catalog sporting size 00 jeans.

But speaking as a designer, I believe photoshopping ads should be acceptable to a certain degree. I've edited countless photographs in photoshop. I use photoshop to enhance my images. I use to correct lighting, remove imperfections, clean up the image, etc. I've never edited a model to the point of unrealistic expectations, but i'm not exempt from using photoshop to clear up the skin or fix a hair out of place. Consumers aren't stupid. They can clearly spot an over edited image and make a comparison for themselves in regards to what the actual product looks like.

Advertising is a creative medium. Photoshop is used to help enhance it. I'm perfectly ok with using photoshop to edit images. But its when you start cutting off and slimming down body parts to create unrealistic bodies is when I start having a problem. Men and women come in all different shapes and sizes. This should be accepted across the media. Not everyone is a size 00, and advertising should be catering to everyone. But advertising is also about creating beautiful, compelling images. And as a designer, photoshopping the images to enhance it is not a bad thing to me.