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Does Dove use Photoshop in its 'Real Beauty' campaign?

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An American dad wants to know if Dove uses Photoshop. <i>Credit: Change.org</i>
An American dad wants to know if Dove uses Photoshop. Credit: Change.org

A former advertising executive has launched an online petition asking Dove to disclose its use of Photoshop in advertisements.

Seth Matlins, a father-of-two from Los Angeles, wants Dove to makes its ‘Real Beauty’ campaign “more real”.

His change.org petition, which uses one the brand’s own before-and-after images to make its point, levels two requests at Unilever-owned Dove. First, he asks the beauty giant to “Photoshop-and-tell”.

Second, he asks that advertisements featuring retouched-images are not run in places where children can see them. Kids, he reasons, don’t have the capacity to process what they see in the same way adults can.

The concerned father goes on to list some disturbing statistics. He says that in the US, a disturbing 53 per cent of 13 year-old girls are unhappy with their bodies. By the time they're 17, that number will reach 78 per cent. He also highlights the fact that eating disorders, which have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses, are associated with the depiction of girls and women in the media.

<b>PHOTOS: Top 10 Photoshop fails of 2014</b>
PHOTOS: Top 10 Photoshop fails of 2014


Adult women are also affected by unrealistic representations of beauty in the media, with a reported 80 per cent of us feeling worse about ourselves when we see a beauty advertisement. When asked to describe their ideal body, one in three women sketch out one that doesn't even exist in nature.

Seth says he is targeting Dove in the hope it will become an industry leader.

“We're starting with Dove because they've been championing ‘Real Beauty’ for ten years, and because they know more about the health consequences created by the false, unrealistic representations of women and girls in photoshopped advertising, than most,” he says.

The former marketing guru’s body positive journey began when he quit his advertising job in 2010 to team up with his wife to start a blog called Feel More Better, which aims to make the world an easier place for girls and women to be happy.

Do you think brands like Dove should have to disclose the use of Photoshop in their ads? Let us know at Y7 Lifestyle Facebook page.


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