Photoshop in the Media: Does Eliminating Photoshop Increase Sales?

Technology has come far in the past ten years, and is utilized in many jobs, but in which jobs is it inappropriate to be used? That depends on one’s standpoint. For instance, magazines are known for photoshopping their models and editing them to near perfection. Some may argue that this is false advertising or creating poor self image in young children, yet others say that it is just part of the sales business, and should be left alone.
“I think people like to see the fake stuff, but I think more like to see true people. If you’re a model and you’re photoshopped, then it’s going to create a bad image,” Derek Ettel ‘18 said.
Even though the controversy still stands, certain companies have decided to eliminate their use of photoshop altogether.
American Eagle recently decided to cut the photoshop out, and stop airbrushing their models. Their pictures of models include stretch marks, tattoos, beauty marks, and any other marks they may have. After doing so, American Eagle found that their sales went up by nine percent in their last quarter. They have also included plus sized models to promote even more body positivity, and inspired young women to embrace their own style that works best for them.
“When people grow up and see all the fakeness then they think they need to strive to be that; to be fake, when they think it is true. But it’s not going to be very positive if what they’re striving for is fake,” Ettel said. “They wanted to give a more realistic standard for their customers, and show that no one’s body can be “perfect”.”
In contrast, Victoria’s Secret’s recently released the slogan, “The perfect body,” which showed thin models in small lingerie. This caused many people to get upset at the gauntness of the models, who were referred to as “perfect” by the company.
“[Photoshop is] probably not very smart because if you want to have true media and real things, then you need to have reliable sources, you need to have true media without any fakeness,” Ettel said.
Petitioners worked hard to change this, and Victoria’s Secret later altered their slogan to “A body for everybody.” Though the slogan changed, the spokeswoman for Victoria’s Secret did not mention why the change was made, or what caused it.