Where do I stand on the use of Photoshop in the media? This is a tough question, seeing as I work in the Graphic Design industry and Photoshop is a big part of what's in my repertoire. On one side, it can be used to create beautiful works of art, photography, and other mediums. On the other side, it gives us an unhealthy interpretation of how people look and should look. So is it right?
Personally, I don't think the issue lies within advertising itself. The retouching of images is a much bigger issue within the fashion and celebrity industry than anywhere else. And specifically, photos of women seem to be a lot more processed and retouched than photos of men. Photo retouching is done on both sides of the gender spectrum, but to be completely honest, there is usually a much larger percentage of women reading fashion magazines and looking up celebrity photos, and women are usually the target audience for these things.
What I feel that we need to do is to protect our youth. Girls, teenagers, even young women can be easily influenced by the media. And they all need to know what's real and what's not. These advertisements are everywhere, literally, and Photoshop is used throughout almost all of them. We shouldn't be worrying about the big picture, but rather the photos which manipulate the human body. For a young girl to see a picture of an anorexic-looking model, and think "that's normal", is not right. For any woman to strive towards looking as thin an 'perfect' as the women shown in the media is not healthy, and frankly just not realistic. No one will ever look like that. Not even the very tiny (and sometimes also anorexic) models and celebrities used in ads are actually that thin, or have perfect complexions, or have no wrinkles, or perfect, full hair. They are all retouched, despite how in-shape they may be or how beautiful they naturally are. Real beauty never seems to be good enough for these ads.
Another important thing to explain to young men and teenagers is that the girls these ads are not real. It is terrible to think that some guys will grow up wanting a perfect model girlfriend, and expect women to strive to look like a celebrity. And men can also take severe blows to their self-esteem. Seeing the muscular, chiseled, and hairless male celebrities in movies and on the runway is not really a realistic example of what men should look like. Depending on body type and genetics, some people will never, ever look like that. But that is rarely explained.
I think that the manipulation of photos can be positive or negative, depending on the subject matter. We as designers have to be careful of what we're editing, and think of how it will effect the real people viewing it. I really applaud Dove's Real Beauty campaigns, and other companies which use minimal retouching of their photos, and try demonstrate real vs. fake. I think Dove is a great example of how we can positively reinforce women in the media and make real women and men feel empowered by their bodies, despite them not being 'perfect'. If more companies can do this, we'll be taking much bigger steps to create healthy depictions of beauty. But it will take a lot.
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