What’s really the point of extreme photo retouching? Who does it it benefit? Does it actually make anyone feel better? Certainly not us, the consumers — and not even the models (from Lorde to Jennifer Lawrence). So, why do companies continue to engage in the archaic practice of making people look inhumanly perfect?
This is why CVS Pharmacy turned heads when it recently announced that it will no longer digitally alter its in-house beauty ads.
CVS Says It Will Stop Retouching Photos for Beauty Products https://t.co/Q4dzUGMc1x pic.twitter.com/ph3g9GXmMl
— Shape Magazine (@Shape_Magazine) January 18, 2018
Why are they doing this? “It really is a health-care issue and part of what we want to stand for in beauty,” said Helena B. Foulkes, president of CVS Pharmacy. She went on to say it’s about taking responsibility, according to People:
As a woman, mother and president of a retail business whose customers predominantly are women, I realize we have a responsibility to think about the messages we send to the customers we reach each day. The connection between the propagation of unrealistic body images and negative health effects, especially in girls and young women, has been established.
In order to know which images haven’t been retouched, the company will add a “Beauty Mark” (a clever name for a watermark) on the adds. CVS also hopes to have all brands sold in their stores become Photoshop-free by 2020.
Starting in April, CVS store brands will “no longer change or enhance a person’s size, shape, proportion, skin or eye color, wrinkles or any other individual characteristics in imagery created for their stores, websites, social media and marketing materials,” according to People.
Right on.
