New Photoshop Legislation in France

A new law in France requires advertisers to disclose their use of Photoshop in ads by writing “photographie retouchee” on each retouched image. The use of this technology has long been known to affect society; specifically, having a negative impact of young girls’ body images. While the majority of Photoshop has been used for dramatic effects and small touch ups, the fashion and beauty industry often perfects the faces or bodies of already near-perfect models. This normalizes unrealistic images and creates impossible expectations or goals.

This is a surprising article because it seems late in the game to me to be addressing this problem. Social medias such as Instagram and Snapchat have embraced the use of filters and touch-ups on images. There are multiple photo-editing apps like Face Tune and Airbrush that are made simply to “thinify” bodies, lengthen legs, brighten or enlarge eyes or breasts or lips. The idea of using technology to altering one’s self in an image has already been acknowledged and accepted in society.

However, there has been a new wave of advertising promotions that focus on embracing one’s natural body; the most famous of these being Dove brand “Real Beauty” Campaign. Stehane Soussan, a French creative director says that “even the Dove “real Beauty Campaign isn’t real.” That is where the problem comes up. While the general public can assume the stick-thin luxurious, glowing models in most campaigns have been altered in some way, but campaigns who claim to be “real” and “natural” imply that Photoshop has not been used. While French advertisers seem unconcerned with the new policy, this is an interesting example of humans interacting with technology and the regulations enforced to protect the welfare of society.

http://adage.com/article/news/x/310667/

10 thoughts on “New Photoshop Legislation in France

  1. I agree that this regulation will protect the welfare of society. In the information society that we live in, we’re all constantly exposed to more ads than ever before. Unfortunately, many of these ads contribute to beauty standards that are impossible to achieve. As you mentioned, it seems late in the game for a law to be passed regarding the issue of body altering in the media. With the help of the Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Congress has actually already introduced a similar bill to the House, called the Truth in Advertising Act of 2016, although it has not yet become a law. As fdc5037 proposed, a tax on ads using Photoshop could work instead; yet, the fine that advertisers face if they do not state a disclaimer is enough of an incentive. Additionally, this study concluded that “a retouched-free disclaimer is found to be more effective than a retouched one,” so with the implementation of this law, advertisers will be more incentivized to avoid the use of Photoshop. The law may not eliminate the issue completely; however, I agree with sbs5487 in that it will expose the frequency of retouched images, and thus will have a positive effect on the public. As you mentioned, social media has already normalized society’s acceptance of using technology to alter one’s self image. In the blog post, Is Social Media Good for Our Generation?, ekb5233 emphasizes the negative psychological effects that are associated with social media. Could this link be partially attributed to body dissatisfaction, caused by the frequency of body modification?

  2. In my opinion, this law being enforced by France is a huge step forward in society concentrating on reality rather than trying to achieve the impossible. There are so many instances in which females, and even males, may feel low self esteem on a daily basis. Whether it may be on the line in the grocery store looking at rows of displayed magazines or watching TV commercials that display “perfect” images of famous celebrities every single thing we lay our eyes on has been reconstructed in one way or another. Photoshop has been around for just over a quarter of a century and in that time the ideal sized woman in society had changed drastically. For example, during the peak of Marilyn Monroe’s career she was the woman that every female dreamed to be. However, today she would most definitely be considered overweight in society. The most unfortunate factor of this massive image editing tool is that every time a photo is released of a celebrity before it has been touched by Photoshop it immediately goes viral. For example, a close up picture of Beyonce showing the imperfections on her face was posted on Twitter in February 2015 by @victororvikk and captioned “American Horror Story: Beyoncé without photoshop”. This is truly a saddening occurrence that is just once of many inspired by the magic of Photoshop. Moreover, in May 2012 GlobalDemocracy.com posted a video to YouTube entitled “Body Evolution – Model Before and After” which racked up over 27.5 million views. This is a perfect example of how much work and “improvement” the system can do for anyone no matter their size or shape. Surprisingly enough, one of the most liked comments on the video states “no wonder why girls and women feel the way they do”. These are just simple examples that show how extreme image editing has altered the visions of modern-day females. The expectations they have for themselves is extensive, and the expectations men have for women is absolutely unreal as well. A renowned German scholar of media by the name of Thomas Knieper told Deutsche Welle (DW) that, “It drives people into depression because they can’t meet the requirements of the beauty ideals that are set by the media, not even if they undergo extreme starvation and beauty surgeries, because what is presented to them is anatomically impossible.” This statement is something that I fully agree with and observe everyday just within my group of friends. Furthermore, Canadian Erin Treloar experienced a severe eating disorder which she credits to “retouched magazine photos”. Her journey and lessons learned from hitting an astonishingly low weight of 89 pounds at the height of 5’11” inspired her to begin a #LessIsMore petition in hopes of collecting enough signatures to reduce Photoshop use in magazines and mainstream media. I believe the law in France will reverse this society shift in the long run and maybe one day in the future women like Marilyn Monroe will be thought of ass beautifully “perfect” humans. Overall, this is a movement that is far overdue and has nothing but good intentions to stop the use of the enormous photo editing system from ruining the self esteem of millions.

    Source:
    Brändlin, Anne-Sphie. “How 25 years of Photoshop changed our perception of reality | Digital Culture | DW | 27.02.2015.” DW.COM, Deutsche Welle , 27 Feb. 2015, http://www.dw.com/en/how-25-years-of-photoshop-changed-our-perception-of-reality/a-18284410.

  3. I am normally a huge believer in citizens and companies not being restricted in what they can and can not do by the government, but I actually agree with France on this. Photoshop has some almost terrifying abilities. There is a video back in 2014 where a guy was able to take an image of a pizza slice and make look like a picture of a model. Now that may seem random, but it just shows how much Photoshop can alter an image. I am not saying Photoshop is a bad thing, but when it comes to images of women or men, who are supposed to represent what society finds beautiful it can be dangerous. In the article I posted below it talks about how companies using Photoshop to alter images of their models have created unrealistic images for people to go off of. Companies need to at least inform their readers or viewers that the image has been changed because it sets almost unrealistic goals and shames people for what they naturally look like. Imagine people, setting goals to look like their favorite movie star, when that star doesn’t even look like that themselves. I think France is right in their decision and should continue to a least require companies to tell the truth.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vivian-diller-phd/photoshop-body-image_b_891095.html

  4. There have been many campaigns for many different brands that attempt to display “natural beauty” and emphasize that everyone is beautiful in their own shape and size, and although I think they need to happen and become a new norm, I also think that it is almost too late to change the mindset of people watching. Young girls and women are already so wrapped up in looking a certain way, and are so used to photoshopping that I think it will take a lot of time before that mindset changes. I think this law is a good idea if not for the mental health of people now, but in a future generation. One store that I have noticed using this campaign a lot recently is Target, using models of all shapes and sizes and emphasizing the beauty in each of them. If we could get this law passed here in the United States, I think it could help shift the mindset of girls to loving and accepting everyone’s looks. It would be healthier for the mentality of our society to realize what real life, healthy, natural beauty looks like.

  5. I think that France has the right idea in initiating this law. While I am unsure if it will actually help rid of negative body images young girls have, I do believe that it is a step in the right direction. Many companies have started promotions, like Dove has, in order to try to show viewers that these are real people and their products provide real beauty. Like mentioned in the article, it is not known if the claims of “real” beauty are real, meaning they are untouched by photoshop. But I do believe that seeing these commercials and advertisements, make young girls, especially those with insecurities about their bodies, feel better. I believe that more places around the world should be initiating laws like France has. Because there is no need to show off beauty that is not real when there is so much beauty in the world that is real, like Dove is trying to show.

  6. The topic of retouched photos and models is very relevant and interesting in our current society. I appreciate France’s initiative to no longer let there be any guessing as to whether or not the photo has been altered. I think this is good because it will expose, if nothing else, the frequency of altered photos in advertising. However, on a societal scale, I do not think this will do much to help with the body image issues people struggle with from the media. Primarily because, although it implies that there is a negative connotation, it doesn’t mean that companies will be more compelled not to use Photoshop. As pointed out, most people already know that the photos have been adjusted. Beyond that, there is more to the issue than photo retouching. Even in campaigns such as #AerieREAL the companies still lean towards using slenderer models, and when a plus sized model is shown, she displays a specific body type with more stereotypical “attractive” features, such as a tight waistline, giving her a fuller but still hourglass figure. At the end of the day, this is a positive initiative, and a good step in the right direction. Only time will tell how effective this initiative will be.

  7. I think that the US should enforce a law like this. There’s a famous quote by an unknown author that says “You’ll never look like the girl in the magazine, the girl in the magazine doesn’t even look like the girl in the magazine”. This quote is implying that the photo went under a massive retouching process before being published. If you put the original photo next to the Photoshop edited photo, it would look clearly different, not just a tweak here and there. It is important that girls know that they should desire to look like that, because it is unobtainable. Magazines and other forms of media implicitly tell girls that EVERYONE looks like that however the reality is that NO ONE looks like that. A few years back, Aerie, a loungewear and lingerie store under American Eagle, launched their Aerie Real campaign. In this campaign they vowed to never retouch their models. They also use plus sized models in their photos. All of these women are posed naturally, with their cellulite, bumps, body hair, and other imperfections in perfect view. This is what women really look like, and that should be taught to young women. If an image is retouched is should state that, so that young women may know that what they are looking at is not real.

  8. While I completely agree with France’s intentions to improve society by improving young girls’ self-esteem, I don’t think it should be a law that companies have to report their use of Photoshop. It has been a trend in the United States for models to be “untouched” in images. Aerie has actually created an entire campaign called “Aerie REAL” around the idea of not retouching models. This campaign has gotten a lot of praise and increased Aerie’s business. I think it should be a company’s choice whether or not they want to disclose their use of Photoshop. A law against the use of Photoshop discourages the use of Photoshop, which is used for many artistic images, as well. Does the law include reporting the use of Photoshop for images that don’t have people in them, too? If so, I think that takes away from an artist’s talent and hard work. It’s a good thought for France, but I don’t think it’s practical.

    http://www.bet.com/style/2016/08/10/aerie_s-new-body-positive-campaign-is-everything.html

  9. I don’t see how this Photoshop rule will fix a societal issue. I think that, for the most part, everyone already recognizes that most fashion shoots are touched up and altered in the first place, so attaching a notification that this photo was edited is a moot point. If the French government wanted to really change the culture of the fashion industry, they should apply a tax to ads using photoshop to a certain degree. While this is not a perfect system (due to how much subjectivity there is in what is too much photoshop) it will make companies think twice before altering their models too much.

  10. While I agree with you when you say “the general public can assume the stick-thin luxurious, glowing models in most campaigns have been altered in some way…”, I do not find this new policy a good thing. It is not the advertisers responsibility to
    “protect the welfare of society”. It is unfortunate that the image of women are always skewed with retouches, forcing society to think natural bodies aren’t okay. However, if I find that this is more so a parenting responsibility than the advertisers. It should be a normal in parenting that you instill in your child a strong sense of self esteem and self worth. So that seeing advertisements with women that are digitally photoshopped wouldn’t affect them, due to knowing/loving themselves.

    This policy wont have much of an affect because it states the obvious. However if I were an advertiser I’d find it unnecessary and a shift of blame and responsibility.

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