10:00pm Tuesday 13th October 2009
WE all have an opinion about it, but whether we like it or loathe it, the airbrushing of models in magazines has become the norm.
Critics claim it misrepresents what is being sold and portrays an image of perfection that is unrealistic and damaging to young people.
Now the issue has become a political hot potato as a Liberal Democrat MP takes on the argument against airbrushing.
Jo Swinson, MP for East Dunbartonshire and chairman of the party’s working group on women’s policy, wants advertisers to be honest and upfront about how much airbrushing actually goes on.
She said: “It is frankly dishonest to advertise an anti-wrinkle cream and then airbrush out all of the wrinkles in the ad. It is simply irresponsible to take already underweight women and then slice off pieces of their thighs or hips in the computer suite.
“This campaign aims to make the Advertising Standards Agency and the Committee of Advertising Practice use the powers they have to insist adverts clearly indicate if they’ve been airbrushed.”
The Real Women Take Action campaign, which also seeks a ban on adverts aimed at under-16s using digital retouching to portray unrealistic body images, has been supported by Girlguiding UK, the National Centre for Eating Disorders and academics across the country.
Angela Smith, Labour MP for Basildon and East Thurrock, agrees changes need to be made. She said: “There is a danger young girls see images of people they admire with no flaws and then they become obsessed by that.
“In 1998, I was asked if I could have any Bill passed what would it be. I said it would be to ban slimming magazines.
“You see young girls of 11, 12, 13 looking at these magazines and becoming obsessed about food and being thin rather than healthy.”
Clive Austen, a commercial photographer at KAZ Studio in Rayleigh, uses airbrushing and knows how ingrained it is within the modelling industry.
Mr Austen, said: “I work with a lot of girls who are getting started in the modelling world and they will ask me to change the image afterwards to make them look a certain way.
“I will remove scratches, blemishes and marks to make the skin look smoother.
“However, I won’t remove something like a mole, slim the body down or increase the bust line because to me that’s telling lies and showing an image of the body that’s unachievable.
“Some of the magazines change images so much you can’t recognise the person.
“Someone like Kate Winslet who complained about airbrushing was brave to do so.
“I say to girls now they should create their own image and work on how they want to be rather than with airbrushing.”
Sheila Chesney, of Basildon Mind, a mental health charity which works with people suffering from eating disorders, believes the barrage of false images in the media is a contributing factor to having a negative body image.
“I think the problems for people with anorexia are much deeper than just an image in a magazine, but having photos of very thin models made to look thinner just adds fuel to the fire,” she said.
“I would much prefer to see more natural images of models rather than ones that have been airbrushed because young people look at them and think they are real.
“It affects vulnerable people, so it makes sense to make it very clear whether the photos have been doctored or not.”
l For more information about the campaign visit www.realwomen.
org.uk/takeaction
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