Impossibly Beautiful

Remember Dove's "Real Beauty" ad tracing the transformation of a model from start to billboard-ready finish, and the Faith Hill Redbook cover we discussed recently?

Well, here's more of the same [link removed, because we were giving them loads of traffic and hence ad revenue], from a company that actually does retouching. Go to "Portfolio" then click on an image and roll your cursor over it to switch between "before" and "after."

The one that really gets me, which doesn't look like much here just side-by-side, but you'll see what I mean when you visit the site and click between the two images, is Kelly Clarkson. Something about the specifics of the "perfecting" here manages to evoke how subtly insidious this stuff is while also so brutally, bluntly highlighting "women's problem areas." Even when you're already perfect, you're not perfect enough, and always in the same damn ways.


And the guys get an opportunity to see how they're "fixed," too.


I can understand getting rid of blemishes—wev. But his face has so much more character "in real life." Like I said about the Faith Hill picture, they seem to airbrush away the very soul with this horseshit, too.

[H/T to Michael K.]

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