It’s no secret that most of the images used for magazine covers have had a healthy dose of Photoshoppery, but this is a few filters too far:
Leave it to ELLE Magazine to photochop the world’s most beautiful woman. Aishwarya Rai, the reigning queen of Indian cinema, model and classically trained dancer is currently on the cover of ELLE India — several shades lighter. Rai’s skin has been lightened and her dark brown hair appears to have a red tint to it.
The Times of India reported the former Miss World is “furious with the bleaching botch-up” and is considering taking legal action against ELLE.
ELLE’s mission is to make women “chic and smart, guide their self-expression, and encourage their personal power,” but their recent covers could lead readers to believe that “chic, smart and personal empowerment” only comes to those with light skin.
H/T to Tim Harford for the link.
It just looks really overexposed to me.
Comment by Clive — January 18, 2011 @ 15:02
Sure, go ahead and speak up for the photographers. You lot always stick together don’t you?
We’re trying to get a nice moral panic going here — we don’t need simple explanations for the phenomena we’re leveraging to build that hysteria!
Comment by Nicholas — January 18, 2011 @ 15:33