(Time, Monday, Oct. 5, 2009)
In the news, conservative lawmaker Valérie Boyer is hoping to pass legislation in France that will require digitally enhanced photos to carry a warning label saying they've been modified from their original state. She says that deliberately misleading photos are causing consumers to expect perfection from both themselves and the people around them, negatively influencing us to believe a distorted version of reality.
She makes an interesting point. It's very common for marketing, sales, and media organizations to enhance photos in order to sell a product or idea. However, will placing warning labels on perfected photos do much to mitigate their impact on society? Imagine that these labels would not only appear in fashion magazines, but also in newspaper columns, print advertising campaigns, newsletters, websites, news magazines, book covers.... Her strongest argument revolves around photos of people, where a woman's cellulite is smoothed away, for instance, or a man's muscles are given more definition. These modifications, she argues, can drive society to feel frustrated, depressed, and upset that "we can't be like those other people who—literally—don't exist."For enhanced photos of people, will adding warning labels be a successful tactic? It's unlikely we'll see a decrease in society's obsession with beauty, but we may see a trend toward a greater appreciation for natural beauty. Its success will also in part be defined by how well the legislation is enacted. In a society where there are billions of photos, how do you ensure that every one that's modified has a warning label? Most likely, the answer is to define which photos fall into this category and which don't. So, enhancing your Facebook profile photo won't mean a $50,000 fine.
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