In a world where everyone is self-conscious and insecure about their own appearances, Photoshop exists to further widen the gap between what is ideal, and what is real. Victoria’s Secret, a brand that boasts itself on self-esteem and empowering women, has been once again accused of manipulating their advertisements. They have been doing so in an effort to make women appear thinner, more toned, and overall, more beautiful.
Yesterday, an advertisement was posted on the VS Facebook page portraying a woman modeling their staple “cheeky” underwear. Over 500 fans of the brand shamed this particular advertisement (which was eventually deleted). The ad features the model facing the wall, wearing nothing but the cheeky underwear and stockings. This type of advertisement is pretty standard for Victoria’s Secret, however, the Photoshop job left the model distorted, and unrealistic.
If you take a look towards the right side of the ad, one of the model’s biceps has a mysterious black shadow. Obviously this was not from her hair, given the apparent length of her hair itself. The other seeming distortion is the photo shopping of her butt, the main reason why many fans lost their cool in the comments.
One of the Facebook comments even signaled that Victoria’s Secret should learn from Aerie, perhaps by using “real” women and “real” appearances to portray infinite ideas of beautiful. People also took the issue to Twitter, where they included many zoom-ins of the photo, proving that this could not possibly be the normal appearance of this model’s body.
This is the second (major public) Photoshop scandal that VS has subjected itself to in the past 5 years; the first being in 2011, with the release of a photo of a woman with her arm fully erased.
Victoria’s Secret has not addressed this Photoshop rumor, and has not released any statements regarding the issue.