The world has gone crazy over the past few months. Countries in Europe are contemplating Photoshop disclaimers, people are calling magazines on their uses of Photoshop to “improve” upon what God gave their cover models, and Ralph Lauren hates fat chicks, especially those over 80 pounds. All right, so he didn’t exactly say that (I am prone to hyperbole).
The Ralph Lauren message seems to be either “thin is in,” or “we don’t care about actual retouching quality as long as the models look starved and deformed.” Is Ralph really the victim of horrible graphic designers or is he a marketing genius? I don’t imagine that the average person cares enough about his ads to boycott his clothing line, so what I see is billions of dollars worth of free publicity. I can’t remember the last time my Google alerts didn’t include Ralph or one of his models. Perhaps it would be more disturbing if the retouching had been even a little realistic. Would people be so upset if he had added a 3rd eye to his models? No teenage girl could ever aspire to having a 3rd eye. Eye doctors would be inundated with calls for “forehead enhancement” procedures. Donor eye banks would have sudden shortages and not be able to keep up with the demand. Ralph Lauren is only benefiting from this, here I am talking about him, and while Photoshop seems to be getting a bad reputation it is only the overuse of a couple of tools, by a minority of users that is a problem.
It is a tough call as a photographer, deciding how far to go when you retouch. People ask me to make them taller, thinner, more tan, less bald. I always treat them as if they are joking and hope that they are. As a rule when retouching I remove anything that isn’t permanent (acne, boogers, five o’clock shadow), and soften or de-emphasize the things that are permanent (wrinkles, moles, Quasimodo humps).
If we were all perfect we would all be the same. Imperfections make life interesting.
Original image by Gabriel Marchi
Back Home
2 Comments at "Ralph Lauren is a Marketing Genius"
I tell the bride If you ask me to make yo TOO skinny it could backfire. Folks will look at the photos and think “Man, she has really packed on the pounds since the wedding. Really let herself go!”
“If we were all perfect we would all be the same. Imperfections make life interesting.”. Amen! Love it.
Comment Now!