The Artful Jurist

With all the ruckus that's been made over the years about the so-called impossible-to-duplicate-in-real-life images of women that grace the magazines and billboards, I'm surprised this proposal didn't originate on this side of "the Pond."

There are legislators in the United Kingdom and France who have proposed that retouched ad photos be required by law to carry warning labels specifically spelling out that the image has been retouched. The rationale behind the proposals has nothing to do with truth in advertising. Rather, it's suggested that young girls should be told that the images featuring those gorgeous feminine creatures they envy, and that make them self conscious, wouldn't be quite so gorgeous if it weren't for the post-production magic that alters the photos.

Now the question is this...What if the photoshopping is used not to enhance the image of the women in the photos but, rather, to enhance the product? Does that still count?