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No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted
This is interesting..... have to love photoshop! This also answers the question about the "photoshop vs MUA"....as you can see the MUA was very important (and stylist). The frumpy chick turned into billboard material: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ho … ion_v2.swf Oct 14 06 11:50 am Link Seriously... Just how often do think all that stuff is done? The whole point is to find models who don't need all that Photoshop to get the look they want. The most PS I've recently done is to remove scabs from the leg of a cat-owning model, or a light stand that snuck into a background. Oct 14 06 11:55 am Link I believe that this was very powerful! I'll share it! Oct 14 06 12:05 pm Link OHHH!!...I love that....WOW...fantastic....showing the truth is amazing! GG Oct 14 06 12:06 pm Link That means if I find the right PS person I can have much much longer body. woohoo...then when the photographers meet me I will tell them I had a freak accident last week with a shrink ray. Oct 14 06 12:10 pm Link I agree with what your saying Stephen, but lets face it, even the beauties that grace the likes of Playboy are given a pretty decent dose of photoshop.. And I bet one would be surprised at the amount of "enhancement" that is done on what seem like perfect models.. The bottom line is that we in this industry, advertising or reality shows like the Swan, are basically telling people, even men sometimes get wrapped up in the perfection ordeal, that if you don't look like this, you're not attractive. We've really gotten to the point that we're saying the packing is the most important part and if you don't meet the standards we have set for you, you're ugly.. Personally I think that's a bad message.. Oct 14 06 12:10 pm Link Jael, if it makes you feel better, I think you don't need all that sh*t to be in a billboard!  But the message is loud and clear to everybody... I'll share it. Luis Oct 14 06 12:11 pm Link I'm with Stephen. I never use Photoshop that much. I mostly just use the healing brush to remove minor scars and blemishes. Although maybe the kind of treatment shown in the video is more prevalent in the big-time fashion world? Oct 14 06 12:12 pm Link This just irritated the hell out of me. Dove seems to be totally bashing the industry, but if you look at even the photos featured on the "campaign" site, they're just as retouched as virtually every commercial image is these days. If you're going to demonize something, make sure you're not guilty of it yourself. Maybe a better approach would be to say "You can easily look this good with all this work done to you, but it isn't practical for everyday for ordinary people." Parents go to great lengths these days to make sure their young kids can separate violence in media and video games from how things are in real life, why not take the same approach in educating them that pretty much everything you see on tv, movies and magazines is just a pretty illusion? If you show them at a young age, maybe the impact wouldn't be as severe. Instead the message is "The people in the advertising world are screwing us. They're MAKING us have poor body image." And that is just crap. Oct 14 06 12:17 pm Link I am tired of this crap! How shall I say this... Certain features in a person signals genetic health and fertility... it's in our genetic makeup, it's scientifically proven. Babies, before they are "victims" of media exposure and "being told what beauty is" are looking longer at a beautiful, symmetric face than at a face that is not considered beautiful. Since the ancient Egyptians, females use cosmetics and red lipstick to enhance features, to make them look more healthy and desireable. Yeah, why the red lips? Because when a woman climaxes, her lips become engorged with blood, they become bigger and redder. I can go on and on. That Dove Campaign is a good thing, but it misrepresents and distorts facts and truth, pretending to really care about "normal" women, where all they are really after is a large segment in the market. It's about money, and they could care less if your self esteem is being raised, as long as you buy their products. If they really cared, they should give their products away FOR FREE, and raise the money via donations! Here... this is Erika, an agency model from London, living in NY right now. She is tall, beautiful and this shot was done backstage before she went on the runway for the Lingerie America show. How much photoshop do you think I had on this naturally beautiful women? Almost nothing at all. Women who are less "blessed" with such feature need more cosmetics to enhance cheekbones, increase the features of the eyes etc. It's done for thousands of years.  Oct 14 06 12:27 pm Link It really doesnt matter much what we think here on MM. The decisions about the major advertising campaigns are made in Boardrooms of corporations who sell us stuff. As long as the American public at large responds to this concept of beauty, then that is what the Madison avenue types will continue to strive for. If on the other hand, the Dove marketing campaign (and that is exactly what it is a marketing campaign not some social correction) influences enough people to change their perception of how they perceive beauty, then the pendulum will start to swing in the other direction. To Hollywood's credit, I am starting to see more actresses with a few more curves, and less of the anorexic sticks that were so popular until about five years ago. Oct 14 06 12:28 pm Link pegasusmaiden wrote: Hey! Don't talk about the shrink ray! I'm still working on it! Oct 14 06 12:32 pm Link Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Is the Dove campaign about money? Sure it is. Will it get some young girls looking in a magazine to think twice before they leap head long into depression because they are not pretty enough? I think it could. Yes the campaign is a bit overblown, but it is trying to make a point - and some good can come of it (on top of Dove's quest for greater market share). Oct 14 06 12:34 pm Link Pat Thielen wrote: Yeah Brain... we need a new plan for world domination... Oct 14 06 12:35 pm Link Wow. I really, really need to start using Dove!! No, but seriously though, I agree this is an excellent ad campaign. Hell, I even commend models like Tyra who have come out with their own books and put their "straight-out-of-bed" pictures in there and intentionally note all their imperfections. Alot of VS models have admitted to being photoshopped also. Not really their face, but a little "slimming" if you will around their torso area for certain poses. Oct 14 06 12:36 pm Link I dislike the implication that there is a "real" beauty - as opposed to, what, imaginary beauty?? Since it's largely in the eye of the beholder, when someone tries to tell me this beauty or that beauty is real, what they are doing is telling me that my ideals of beauty don't count compared to theirs. That's just bullshit political correctness. mjr. Oct 14 06 12:39 pm Link why in God's name would you look at advertising to make any connection to 'real' life? *yawns Oct 14 06 12:40 pm Link we are in the business of illusion. doesn't matter how the road is traveled to get there as nobody cares about that. it's the destination that is important. --face reality Oct 14 06 12:40 pm Link UdoR wrote: Well said! Oct 14 06 12:44 pm Link oldguysrule wrote: Amen! Oct 14 06 12:50 pm Link Jael M wrote: An excellent springboard for discussion. Thanks for sharing it. Oct 14 06 12:53 pm Link I'll be the first to admit that until an image of me is photoshopped, I cringe at the thought of someone else (besides the photographer) seeing it! Oct 14 06 12:54 pm Link What a waste! The could have just started with a beautiful model and saved all that work. Oct 14 06 01:00 pm Link pegasusmaiden wrote: You're 5' 0" but a good PS guy can make you look, say, 5' 10" with a little effort. Oct 14 06 03:12 pm Link Glad so many people saw it.... it is up to you however you want to take it or disregard it. I thought it was neat as I like time-line stuff and before and after shots. Nothing more, as I don't get into the whole "do models make everyday women suffer'' etc topic. To each his own! -Jael- Oct 14 06 03:49 pm Link You throw a dog a bone and he's going to chew on it. This is all just more of the same. Oct 14 06 03:52 pm Link some of you see this in tags or in photo comments, when I feel it's appropriate: "personality + character = authentic beauty" Oct 14 06 03:58 pm Link I'm sorry.. I can't stand the whole "you're beautiful the way you are" thing.. HELL NO, YOU'RE NOT!! Why do you wear make-up? Why do you brush your hair? Why do you wear certain 'fits' of clothes? Why do you brush your teeth? Why do you do your nails? Why do you dye your hair? Why do you tan? Why do you consider/go through with plastic surgery? Why do you do ANYTHING if you actually think you are "beautiful the way you are"? It's because you want to look better.. prettier.. It's becuase you don't think you're hot shit all the time. There is pretty, and then there is ugly. Natural beauty doesn't need a bunch of cover-up.. but it is necessary to look presentable. Ugly needs all the help it can get. I look pretty good when I'm all done up.. but I'll be damned if anyone besides my family sees me without make-up. Models don't need to be beautiful all the time. Sometimes "frumpiness" is preferred. Watch a Victoria's Secret Angels commercial.. then watch a a Prozac commercial. See? Beautiful and down right ugly. Those ugly people in the pill commercial are BY NO MEANS beautiful (though they might be nice people). Ugh.. I don't know if that made sense.. but make-up is necessary. Photoshop is necessary. Dieting and working out is necessary. And if you actually think you are 100%, naturally beautiful.. stop doing everything I just mentioned. After all, you're NATURAL, right?? Oct 14 06 04:09 pm Link Jamie Garrett wrote: That is why I run wild in the hills of Appalachia; hunting for food naked like a cave woman. When I have a photo shoot they come, track me down, tranquilize me and make me look pretty. Oct 14 06 04:17 pm Link Jael M wrote: What do they use for tranqs? I need a new sleeping aid. My bitchiness keeps me awake. Oct 14 06 04:20 pm Link StarlaMeris wrote: I don't like the ad either, but it's their marketing campaign. Oct 14 06 04:31 pm Link Dove runs these ads about "real" beauty while trying to sell us anti-cellulite lotion and age defying facial creams. Doesn't make any sense to me. Oct 14 06 04:41 pm Link Jamie Garrett wrote: Because I wouldn't submit having junk put on my face, legs bikini waxed, hair brushed, brows plucked, nailed done, feet buffed, squeezed into clothes, torture devices on feet (they call them shoes), hair curled, and put in front of a camera any other way. They tried it once and I bit the photographer and chased the stylistâs cat. Oct 14 06 04:47 pm Link This is awesome.. http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/fl … gn_firming And the replys have me smiling from ear to ear..LMAO 1. That little piece did exactly what the marketing gurus wanted. It sparked something that causes everyone to remember DOVE. BULLSEYE 2. DOVE is doing an awesome job of "knowing" current trends. One of which is the current trend of using more"real" people in advertising and entertainment. And of course as more of this has occured, one byproduct of the trend would be the "waving bloody flags" syndrome. meaning, as a trend takes hold so do the voices of those behind or in favor of the trend. Dove sees this and they are capitalizing on it. This whole campaign speaks to a generation of "average" CONSUMERS who are tired of seeing BOMBSHELLS at the forefront of marketing. There is a population of consumers who no longer want to "buy the dream", instead they want to purchase based on the realities of their life and looks as it were. Where does this come from? It's a chicken or egg question...However, the rise in reality television shows as well as the home improvement shows, cooking shows. All of which became VERY popular with the advent of cable and availibility of more channels. We have seen a rise in REAL people in entertainment and information media. Did I ramble? DOVE is one smart company...They have skillfully taken all of the above into account and made themselves the "whites nights" among many to sell sell sell sell sell sell. I LOVE IT, because I love marketing. And as I can plainly see....It works as prescribed. Oct 14 06 04:49 pm Link I think this campaign was more about actresses...i dunno thats what it seems like to me anyway. Actresses use more photoshop than models...lol. Oct 14 06 05:06 pm Link Tom Winstead wrote: And advertising, and celebrity... Oct 14 06 05:17 pm Link Too funny. Agreed with Udo. It's just another marketing campaign that successfully captures a large audience (hey, we are talking about it!), and by large, I mean a growing population of obese and over-weight people that are moving away from a healthy and attractive (per scientifically researched definition, which Udo has elaborated a while back) appearance. This is as much distortion as telling the general population that fashion models are all anorexic and have eating disorder, not knowing most of them are just born and blessed that way. Oct 14 06 05:32 pm Link Good post. I once saw a program where they demonstrated how even babies are drawn to beauty. The scientists however defined beauty as being symmetrical. That is to say having the eyes at a certain distance apart and using a mathematical equation to determine how far those should be from the mouth and so on. It's not just about makeup at that level. lol Oct 14 06 05:40 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: I left a comment on that one: Kevin Connery wrote: This one, I absolutely love the before and after photos, since, different from the first link, this one really shows the work done. Really cool... I just have to figure out how to do the shrink effect in my beloved ACDSee Pro... LOL Oct 14 06 05:43 pm Link Kevin Connery wrote: well I know what I'm doing for the next half hour..... *pops popcorn* Oct 14 06 06:00 pm Link |
