Design

French Parliament May Mandate Full Photoshop Disclosure

In today’s media, you can’t find an image of a person that hasn’t gone through some level of Photoshop manipulation. But France may decide that any such images need a disclosure, just like a cigarette ad.

If the proposed law passes that, incidentally, is currently supported by over 50 politicians, every Photoshopped human on everything from advertisements to news stories to product packaging would require the footer: “Photograph retouched to modify the physical appearance of a person”.

Advertisers who fail to include the footer would be fined $US55,000 or up to 50% of the cost of their campaign.

The law itself is being driven on by arguments that Photoshopped images can “lead people to believe in a reality that does not actually exist, and have a detrimental effect on adolescents”. And while that’s a fair point, the skeptic in us might see this as the lame excuse of someone not committed enough to rigorous cosmetic surgery. [Telegraph via ars and Image]

Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • Disclaimers to follow in the next bill:

    The person/people in this photo have had make-up applied to alter their physical apperance.

    Studio lights have been used to make the person look different to how they would look under normal lighting conditions.

    • formulated

      oh shush you’re over-reacting. when photoshop is used to make the impossible possible (make up ads are the worsts) it’s deceptive advertising – in the same way that the 2006 Call Of Duty 2 TVC was pulled from TV after it used full motion video (created only for the commercial) to simulate actual gameplay, in the UK this was deemed deceptive and it changed the face of video game advertising. i applaud the french and could only dream of the same thing happening in australia.

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