Artificial Images

Almost every commercial that we see on TV or in a magazine portrays a beautiful young woman selling a certain product. Regardless of her ethnicity the woman pictured in the commercial is always thin, has a flawless skin, beautiful hair and gorgeous face. Most of these women that we see in the commercials are just perfect and it is hard to find any flaws. The way they smile, the way they talk...And of course the way they look.
But what exactly do we understand by perfect. Are the women really that beautiful, is that their true personality that we see on the screen. Are Victoria’s Secret Angels really angels? I think that it will take you no more than five minutes to answer that question. Because we all know that most of the images that we see are fake, artificially created and are not close to reality at all.
I was lucky enough to see how most of these “perfect “women were created. I did an internship in a company that was specializing in retouching. This experience changed my life in many ways. Growing up as a teenager I was exposed to all different commercials portraying beautiful women. As any other teenager, I developed certain insecurities about the way I look. I would spend hours to look for the “right “makeup that will help me to achieve that flawless look. However, there was always something that I wanted to fix, there was always something missing.
I am realizing now that I was missing my real self. I was trying to look like one of these women on the commercials without realizing that this is impossible. These women do not really exist. 99% of the images that we see are artificially created. I have seen more than hundreds of pictures before and after they have been retouched. I often could not believe that it is the same person that I see.
The advertising industry is not playing a fair game. How is it even possible to look like someone that does not even exist? The flawless skins, the long eyelashes, the pink plump lips that we see on the billboards surrounding us are not real. I am convinced that we all know that. However, growing up as a teenager you want to believe that everything you see is real, you are hardly trying to look like one of these perfect women that you see on TV. Teenage girls are extremely sensitive; they are in a process of shaping their personality. They become victims right away, struggling to achieve that magical, flawless look...
The advertising industry should take responsibility for its actions. We have seen enough retouched images of “super-women”. I think that it is about time to see the real image of woman. I think that advertising industry should start showing images that are not retouched. Also there should be a note below any retouched image. The note should say: “Attention this image has been retouched. It is not a realistic image. “I believe that once the message is out there, right next to the picture that we see we will look at it different. Time for change has come.