Julian Crowley
According to Media Arts & Animation graduate Fabio Apelbaum, who works as a director of graphic arts for a television station, “98% of what you see in the fashion industry is unreal.” And this Ralph Lauren advert is certainly no exception! In the “after” shot on the left, the already super-svelte model has been reduced to impossible levels of human skinniness. What’s more, we don’t get why.
Critics point the finger at Photoshop-liberal companies, accusing them of abusing their power and fostering low-self esteem with their unrealistic standards of beauty. In 2011, following the lead set in France and the UK, Off Our Chests magazine founders Seth and Eva Matlins began a campaign to get a Self Esteem Act passed in the US that would limit image retouching and protect impressionable young people. According to Apelbaum, “We have taken the human beauty to an extreme that beauty itself cannot compete with.”
