Photoshop is a controversial tool and some countries seek to make laws that limit its use on certain images. There are arguments for and against its use in magazine images. Here are 15 reasons it matters if magazines use Photoshop.
Eva Mendes
The editor in this photo shoot seems to have taken away some of Mendes’ ethnicity. They’ve lightened her skin and even narrowed her nose.
Britney Spears
It would be unsafe to give women the impression that they can work out as intensely as Britney Spears does every day, and still eat a diet that would leave them as svelte as a lingerie model. The before image is of a strong, real woman. The after is of something else entirely.
Zack Effron
Here’s one for the men out there: before you lift weights to the point of a cardiac event, know that the definition you see in a man’s arms on a magazine may not be real.
Katy Perry
Any woman anywhere any size knows that when you sit down, your tummy wrinkles a little bit. Nobody would have held it against Perry if this photo showed that her skin moved like a human being’s.
Kim Kardashian
There is not one dimple on the reality star’s entire body once the Photoshopping is done. What sort of message does that send to women who believed Kardashian was an advocate for “real bodies?”
Cameron Diaz
Diaz is already naturally very fit and toned. But for some reason the photo editor here decided she is not allowed to have bones or muscle—all definition has been removed from her stomach.
Madonna
It’s OK for Madonna to look at least close to her age. Really, nobody will be shocked to find out that at age 56 the megastar no longer looks 26.
Kourtney Kardashian
Just months after having a newborn, Kourtney Kardashian apparently wasn’t allowed to show any baby weight in this photo shoot for OK! Magazine.
Kiera Knightley
Nobody should be led to believe that if you get down to the teeny, tiny size of Knightley that you won’t see some bone and muscle.
Avril Lavigne
As an advocate for being open about skin problems, Lavigne of all people shouldn’t appear in photos that turn the model’s skin into porcelain.
Tara Lynn
Isn’t Lynn supposed to be a role model for women accepting their bodies as they are? And yet the photo editor has taken several inches off of her waist.
Whitney Thompson
Another “plus-size model” almost removed from that category after photo editing.
Miranda Kerr
In this case the model and the Photoshopper are one and the same. Plenty of people were outraged after the Victoria’s Secret model released a photo on her Instagram and when that same image was seen live from a fashion show, her waist was noticeably larger.
The Ralph Lauren scandal
The brand actually had to release an apology after publishing this photo. On the left is the real model and on the right is something even the makers of Barbie would be too afraid to release.
Lady Gaga
What we start with an already petite woman with some curves. What we end with is almost a cartoon version of the pop star. The skin has been turned into porcelain, contours have been added around the collarbone where there are none, the waist has been cut in half and even the dress has been altered.