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+--- Thread: Researchers call for regulation to stop digital image alteration in advertising (/thread-7394.html)
Researchers call for regulation to stop digital image alteration in advertising - C C - Jul 26, 2019
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-07/dc-rcf072519.php
EXCERPT: An analysis of legal and regulatory strategies that may help combat rampant "photoshopping" and the portrayal of unrealistic beauty standards in advertising has been published in the American Journal of Law & Medicine. Researchers [...] are calling for industry regulation to curtail the digital alteration of images in advertising.
[...] "Many studies indicate exposure to unrealistic standards of beauty, such as through digitally-altered imagery, contribute to body dissatisfaction and disordered weight control behaviors," said Dickinson College Associate Professor of Psychology Suman Ambwani, a coauthor of the study. "Given the seriousness of eating disorders, which impact millions of Americans across genders, racial and ethnic groups and socioeconomic statuses, we must consider public health strategies to reduce eating disorder risk."
"We've known for years how harmful these ad images are to young people, especially to those struggling with body image and low self-esteem," said study principal investigator Professor S. Bryn Austin from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "But what we haven't known is what options we have to combat these images. In the U.S., where we have strong First Amendment rights that include advertisers too, we knew we'd need to come up with creative ideas to encourage businesses to do the right thing. Our study suggests that incentivizing companies to promote healthier advertising images will be good for business and good for the mental health of young people." (MORE)
RE: Researchers call for regulation to stop digital image alteration in advertising - Syne - Jul 27, 2019
Researchers calling for regulation is not research, it's advocacy.
Guess what, some people actually do look that perfect. The real problem is existing self-image problems that latch onto photoshopping as justification. Real researchers would have tested for that, rather than just conflating correlation with causation...or more likely, just projection.