Fashion Forum

Could magazines soon come with a health warning informing readers of when a photo has been airbrushed? Here comes the nanny-state to our rescue:

Could British magazines' glossy images of airbrushed models and celebrities carry a health warning in the future? Following the British Fashion Council's Model Health Inquiry last December, which questioned the part airbrushed images play in perpetuating an "unachievable aesthetic," digitally enhanced images in other words, airbrushing are set for some closer inspection. The U.K.'s Periodical Publishers Association said Tuesday it will set up a working group with the BFC and London magazine editors to discuss the use of digital enhancements in fashion photography. "As this is a complex issue and there is no predetermined consensus across the industry, PPA is currently canvasing views," the association said. No date has been set for a meeting, said a spokesman.

In December, the BFC said it wrote to the PPA, the British Society of Magazine Editors and the Advertising Association in the U.K. to suggest what the BFC calls "a voluntary code covering the use of digital manipulation [in photography]." A BFC spokeswoman said Tuesday that no guidelines had been drawn up governing the magazines' use of airbrushing. She suggested that rather than limiting magazines' use of digital manipulation, publications could instead be asked to declare if an image had been altered.

Source

I s'pose they have a point but I don't think it's logical. It's not like with the mascara vs. fake eyelashes where it could actually be mistaken for the mascara's effects; people know magazines are airbrushed and it's to be expected.

Maybe it would be better to have a symbol system; a dot in the corner or something rather than "unachievable aesthetic" written? It would be less on an eye-sore.

I dunno. I can understand where they're coming from when I hear girls cooing over a models overly long legs or perfectly flawless skin but I also think they are underestimating people's intelligence to differentiate between raw photos and their airbrushed cousins.

I think they should make it really easy for us. Label images which haven't been airbrushed. They'll be fewer of them.

Valid point!

"This is natural beauty". There you go! I thought of the lovely tag line!

Yes exactly - point out the ones that aren't airbrushed.