Image Alterations Effects on Society

Megan Landvatter
December 4, 2013

The image alteration in consumer magazines and advertisements has been heavily
criticized. Editors retouch every blemish, smooth over every wrinkle, cinch in every waist, and

tone every arm and every leg in every photograph. The fake photographs that are splashed across
the pages of magazines and billboards have very negative effects on the people who view them.
These images cause women to have unrealistic expectations of what their bodies should look
like, as well as men to think that women should look like the women in magazines. While
women may be more susceptible to the negative effects of image alteration, men are also victims
of this practice. Women are also led to believe that men should be as toned as the men in
magazines. Unfortunately, image alteration does not stop at changing the size and shape of
people, skin tone is also a factor. Editors have been guilty of lightening up the skin tone of
African Americans. The constant alteration of photographs changes societys perception of
beauty. Beauty is no longer in the eye of the beholder. Instead it is size zero, wrinkle-free, long
legged, and lightened skin. With so much scrutiny being put on outer appearance, women often
find themselves going to the extreme to fix their so called flaws. These extremes include
anorexia and bulimia. While some may not take these extremes into practice, many people from
poor self-esteem as a result of altered images. Enhanced photographs negatively affect the people
who view them and have a profound effect on societys definition of beauty.
Some people argue that beauty has always been idealized in artists depictions of people.
However, these paintings were often viewed as unattainable as they were no more than
characters painted by an artist. Images today are a vastly different story and the lines between
reality and fantasy are blurred. The images that are put in magazines are edited to create
impossible standards but because the photograph includes a real person, the perception is that the
person looks that way in reality. The first publicly recognized edited image was the portrait of
Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Lincolns head was edited together with politician John Calhouns
body. Photographers continued to practice their photo editing skills throughout the Civil War,

taking elements from multiple photos and bringing them together for a complete composition
(Photo Tampering Throughout History 2011).
The 1930s saw Joseph Stalin rise to power, and Stalin used the art of photo editing for
political gain. He never allowed his enemies to be in photographs, so he simply airbrushed them
out. This led the way for future political leaders to follow in Stalins footsteps. Mao Tse-tung and
Adolf Hitler both used photo editing to alter their images and take out people who fell out of
favor with them (Photo Tampering Throughout History 2011).
When asked the question, When did the first edited photograph enter a magazine? the
popular answer is the 1982 cover of National Geographic in which the editors moved the
pyramids closer together. Apparently, the pyramids of Giza did not fit onto the cover of the
magazine so they used the tricks of Photoshop to move them closer together. Photo editing took
over the fashion industry in the 1990s. A new and exciting tool, many editors began
experimenting with the software to create unique images (Photo Tampering Throughout History
2011).
Photoshop, arguably the most popular photo editing program on the market, was designed
by brothers Thomas and John Knoll in 1987 and was released exclusively on Macintosh in 1990.
The release of Photoshop 1.0 allowed virtually anyone to edit images on their personal
computers. Obviously, the price of this new piece of technology was still high, but the fact that it
was available was huge (History of Photoshop 2005).
Throughout the 1990s many magazines edited their covers and the photographs within
the pages of their magazines. Multiple magazines were guilty of taking the heads of various
celebrities and matching them with models bodies. There was a famous incident in which Oprah

Winfreys head was put on actress Ann Margarets body on the cover of TV Guide. This was
done without the permission of Winfrey or Margaret. Before long magazines were altering the
bodies of the celebrities themselves instead of using someone elses body all together.
Throughout the years there have been many incidents involving edited photographs and it has
caused a lot of controversy (Photo Tampering Throughout History 2011).
The effects that image alteration in magazines has on women are alarming. Seeing
flawless celebrities plastered on the cover of every magazine, or seeing perfect models in
advertisements causes many women to feel insecure. Females are constantly bombarded with the
message that the definition of beauty involves a trim waist, long legs, blemish-free skin, fuller
chests, toned arms, white teeth, and other impossible ideals. Sociocultural Theory states that
societys perception of beauty is influenced by multiple sources, the most powerful of which is
the mass media (Groesz, Levine, & Murnen, 2002). With the media pushing women to fulfill
these expectations, it can pressure them into some very dangerous behaviors.
Perhaps the most dangerous of these behaviors is the extreme dieting methods that some
women use to meet societys standards. Many women have turned to laxatives, dieting pills,
keeping their calorie intake extremely low, and, in severe cases, anorexia and bulimia. The gap
between the thin ideal and an average woman is larger than ever. Achieving the thin ideal
portrayed in magazines is nearly impossible for a real woman. However, many women
automatically compare themselves with the women pictured in magazines and realize that they
fall short of the standards set forth in the fashion industry, allowing women to be dissatisfied
with their bodies and turn to alternate forms of dieting to lose weight (Slater, Tiggemann, Firth&
Hawkins, 2012). A study of 39 undergraduate women tested the effects of fashion magazines on
women by having half of the women view fashion magazines and the other half view news

magazines and then having them complete a body satisfaction survey. The study found that,
Exposure to fashion magazines was related to women's greater preoccupation with being thin,
dissatisfaction with their bodies, frustration about weight, and fear about deviating from the thin
standard (Turner, Hamilton, Jacobs, Angood, Dwyer, 1997). Additionally, the perception of
what is means to be thin is also influenced by magazines. The extremely thin models that are
often seen within the pages of fashion magazines manipulated womens views on body type and
weight.
While poor eating habits affect women universally, the ones who are most likely to
struggle with unhealthy eating habits are adolescents. A study done by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services with Public Health Services, the Office of Disease Prevention and
Health Promotion, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institute on Drug Use
studied 502 high school girls and revealed that 52.2% ate less than 1,200 calories a day, 51%
skip two meals a day, 14.5% used diet pills, 11.4% used laxatives, and 8.8% made themselves
vomit as a way to lose weight (Thomsen, Weber, Brown, 2002). The study went on to say that
73.3% of those using dieting pills identified themselves as frequent readers of beauty and fashion
magazines, while all 28 infrequent readers, meaning they read beauty and fashion related
magazines less than once a year, never use diet pills.
During adolescence, many people find themselves changing physically and mentally.
This is a time of self-discovery, so to speak. A person uses this time in his or her life to figure
out who they are as a person. The excessive access to the media can greatly influence
adolescents. The messages that are sent by television programs, movies, magazines, social media
websites, and other media related outlets have a strong impact on how an individual views the
world, the people around them, and themselves. In a study done by Julie Shaw (1995) which

examined the self-satisfaction of adult and adolescent after viewing fashion images found that,
such fashion images will motivate girls to present a body image that wins social approval and
acceptance(p. 21). This study concluded that while fashion magazines influenced the way both
adult and adolescents view their bodies, adolescents were more likely to be negatively affected.
Adolescents were affected more because they use magazines to, in the words of Shaw, collect
information regarding personal identity development (p. 21).
When magazines release their publications every month, the individuals who read them
receive a wide variety of messages. Most womens magazines inform women on how to tighten
their stomachs in two weeks or the importance of watching what you eat. Of course each article
is accompanied by a picture of a model that has no cellulite, extra flab, or any other bodily
imperfection that society would view as unattractive. Young women see these would and
automatically associate them with the ideal body. Unfortunately the editing does not stop there,
every stray hair, blemish, and wrinkle has been removed. Teeth have been whitened, breasts have
been enlarged, and the list goes on. Every aspect of almost every photograph has been tampered
with in one way or another. The media bias of what is beautiful can harm adolescents selfesteem and this can lead to dangerous habits. Women will often compare themselves to women
in magazines and set goals with a particular image in mind. This comparison automatically sets
and individual up for failure because the pictures in magazines do not accurately represent
women. The standards set for women in magazines are often unattainable and utterly impossible
(Reaves, Hitchon, Park, Yun 2004).
With all of the controversy, it would seem like a simple idea for magazines to stop
editing their photographs. However, there are multiple reasons as to why magazines refuse to
stop retouching their images. Magazines have more competition on the newsstand compared to

newspapers. Consumers decide on which magazine to buy between three and five seconds based
on the covers appeal, and magazines are composed of mainly images, whereas newspapers rely
on attention-grabbing headlines to make sales. Fashion and beauty magazines also heavily
feature celebrities who have publicists that demand that their clients photograph is digitally
edited. Finally, magazines depend on people to buy their magazines and advertisers to place ads
in their magazines. If women are satisfied with themselves they are less likely to buy the
magazines that tell them how to improve their image. If no one is buying the magazine, then
advertisers will no longer buy space in that publication. This is an industry that relies on the
destruction of womens self-esteem in order to thrive. Obviously this creates an ethical debate
among magazine editors and controversy in the public eye (Haughney 2012).
Some companies and celebrities have taken steps to reduce the alteration of images in the
media. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis famously posed in her underwear at the age of 43 for More
magazine. (Wallace 2009) quotes as follows:
Theres a reality to the way I look without my clothes on, she says. I dont have great
thighs. I

have very big breasts and a soft, fatty little tummy. And Ive got back fat.

People assume that Im

walking around in little spaghetti-strap dresses. Its

insidiousGlam Jamie, the Perfect Jamie, the great figure, blah, blah, blah. And I dont
want the unsuspecting forty-year-old women of the world to think that Ive got it going
on. Its such a fraud. And Im the one perpetuating it.
Magazine editors have also realized that readers are begging for real women to appear in
their magazines. When interviewed by the New York Times, Glamour editor, Cindi Leive, had
this to say:

Fashion magazines are always about some element of fantasy, but what Im hearing from
readers lately is that in fashion, as in every other part of our lives right now, there is a
hunger for

authenticity. Artifice, in general, feels very five years ago (Wilson 2009).

Magazines also make men feel inadequate. The covers of most mens magazines tend to
feature men with low levels of body fat and high levels of muscularity. Men that are placed
within the magazine are lean with six pack abs and little body fat. If a man is without a six pack
he is seen an unattractive and unhealthy. When viewing these magazines people are shown one
specific body type and that body type becomes the standard for all men. We are led to associate
healthy men as men with a muscular build. If an average man, without six pack abs and low
levels of body fat, is featured in magazines, he is used for advertisements for weight loss
supplements or for before and after photos displaying the results of a workout regimen (Labre
2005).
The lack of variety in the photographs in mens magazines leads to a discrepancy
between mens perception of muscularity and their desire for muscularity, as stated in the social
comparison theory. College men are particularly affected by this, as their perception of
muscularity and the muscularity that they believe they should have do not agree with one
another. Unhealthy behaviors may start as a result of social comparison. These behaviors include
becoming preoccupied with ones appearance, eating disorders, taking steroids, or other
performance enhancing substances, over-excersizing, and cosmetic surgery (Labre 2005).
Of course mens magazines also have a history of editing their photographs. While it is
true that the biased content of mens magazines has negative effects on men, the altered images
in the magazines have negative effects as well. Professional tennis player Andy Roddick posed

for the cover of Mens Fitness in 2007. Roddick later stated on people.com, that the image had
been altered saying, Im not as fit as the Mens Fitness cover suggests and little did I know I
have 22-inch guns (Andy Roddick Laughs Off Doctored Magazine Cover 2007).
Image alteration goes beyond changing an individuals body, many magazines and other
companies have been accused of lightening the skin tone of African American women. Many
advertisements and magazine covers have used photo editing technology to make African
American women appear to have lighter skin. This practice has become known as white-washing
in the media industry. Many people fear that this sends the message that being beautiful requires
having white skin. The effects that this has on African American women and children are very
psychologically damaging (Newman 2013).
LOreal Paris was accused of lightening the skin tone of spokeswomen Beyonc Knowles
in their advertisements for their line of Feria hair coloring products. The representative for
LOreal denied this saying:
It is categorically untrue that LOreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin-tone in
the

campaign for Feria hair color. Beyonc Knowles has been a spokesperson for the

LOreal Paris brand since 2001. We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles
(Fox News 2008).
The skin lightening controversy does not stop there. Gabourey Sidibe posed on Elle
magazines 25th anniversary issue. Sidibes skin tone seemed to be significantly lighter on the
cover. Elle defended their cover and sent the following email to Yahoo!:
"Nothing out of the ordinary was done. We have four separate covers this month and
Gabby's cover was not retouched any more or less than the others. We had 25 cover-worthy

subjects in our portfolio and we chose Gabby because of who she is. We shot this as a story of
exuberant young women changing the world. If you take a look at the portfolio, each of the
women were shot in different ways and for different reasons (Romolini 2010).
While they say that Sidibes cover was not excessively edited in comparison to the other
covers, the do not deny re-touching the photograph. Whether it was unnatural lighting or the
work of a computer program, Sidibes skin looks lighter on the cover than it does in person. The
message that this sends impressionable African American girls is that their dark skin tone is not
beautiful. While our society claims to accept members of every ethnicity, the skin lightening
method proves that many magazines and other media outlets are sending a hypocritical message.
If an African American girl looks at the cover of Elle magazine and sees that Gabourey Sidibes
skin tone is lighter, she will begin to feel like her natural skin tone is unacceptable. Furthermore,
many girls idolize the celebrities that are featured on the covers of these magazines. They view
them as the ideal image of beauty and if their body does not match up to this ideal it can have
very negative effects on their self- esteem (Newman 2013).
Image alteration in consumer magazines can have very harmful effects on the people who
view the publication. Low self-esteem, eating disorders, over-exercising, and steroid use are all
results of image alteration. The unattainable vision of ideal body image portrayed in magazines
is dangerous to the consumers of the magazine. Men and women both struggle with the effects of
these images. The unethical practice of white-washing also has adverse effects that effect
members of different ethnicities. Magazine publishers and editors have a responsibility to their
readers to stop the excessive retouching of their photographs. Consumer magazines should
present their models as they actually are rather than what they can become my means of a
computer program.

Works Cited
"Andy Roddick Laughs Off Doctored Magazine Cover." PEOPLE.com. N.p., 30 May 2007.
Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://www.people.com/people/article"The history of Photoshop." Creative
Bloq. N.p., 13 Dec. 2005. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. <http://www.creativebloq.com/adobe/historyphotoshop-12052724>./0,,

Groesz, L. M., Levine, M. P., & Murnen, S. K. (2002). The effect of experimental presentation
of thin media images on body satisfaction: A meta-analytic review. International Journal Of
Eating Disorders, 31(1), 1-16. doi:10.1002/eat.10005
Haughney, C. (2012, July 20). Who can improve on nature? Magazine editors. New York Times.
Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/arts/magazine-editorsand-photographers-on-retouching-photos.html?pagewanted=all
Image Authentication and Forensics | Fourandsix Technologies - Photo Tampering throughout
History. (n.d.). Image Authentication and Forensics | Fourandsix Technologies - Photo
Tampering throughout History. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from
http://www.fourandsix.com/photo-tampering-history/
Labre, M. (2005). Burn Fat, Build Muscle: A Content Analysis of Men's Health and Men's
Fitness. International Journal Of Men's Health, 4(2), 187-200.
L'Oreal Denies Lightening Beyonce's Skin Tone in Ad. (2008, August 7). Fox News. Retrieved
December 5, 2013, from http://www.foxnews.com/story/2008/08/07/loreal-denies-lighteningbeyonce-skin-tone-in-ad/
Newman, A. (2013, April 20). Celebrating Black Beauty and Advocating Diversity. New York
Times. Retrieved November 2, 2013, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/business/media/celebrating-black-beauty-and-advocatingdiversity.html?_r=0

Newman, A. (2007, May 28). MEDIA TALK; 3 Magazines Are Accused of Retouching
Celebrity Photos to Excess. The New York Times. Retrieved November 3, 2013, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/business/media/28fitness.html?_r=0
Reaves, S., Hitchon, J. B., Park, S., & Yun, G. W. (2004). If looks could kill: digital
manipulation of fashion models. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 19(1), 56-71.
Romolini, J. (2010, August 15). Was Gabourey Sidibe's skin lightened for the cover of ELLE?.
Yahoo Shine. Retrieved December 5, 2013, from http://shine.yahoo.com/fashion/wasgabourey-sidibes-skin-lightened-for-the-cover-of-elle-2391180.html
Shaw, J. (1995). Effects of fashion magazines on body dissatisfaction and eating
psychopathology in adolescent and adult females. European Eating Disorders Review,
3(1), 15-23. doi:10.1002/erv.2400030105
Slater, A., Tiggemann, M., Firth, B., & Hawkins, K. (2012). Reality check: An experimental
investigation of the addition of warning labels to fashion magazine images on women's
mood and body dissatisfaction. Journal Of Social And Clinical Psychology, 31(2), 105122.
Thomsen, S. R., Weber, M. M., & Beth Brown, L. (2002). The relationship between reading
beauty and fashion magazines and the use of pathogenic dieting methods among
adolescent females. Adolescence, 37(145), 1-18.
Turner, S. L., Hamilton, H., Jacobs, M., Angood, L. M., & Dwyer, D. (1997). The influence of
fashion magazines on the body image satisfaction of college women: An exploratory
analysis. Adolescence, 32(127), 603-614.

Wallace, A. (2009, April 6). Jamie Lee Curtis: True Thighs. MORE Magazine. Retrieved
November 3, 2013, from http://www.more.com/news/womens-issues/jamie-lee-curtistrue-thighs
Wilson, E. (2009, May 27). Smile and Say no Photoshop. New York Times. Retrieved October
27, 2013, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?pagewant