Weekly News Post #1

France to warn audiences when models in adverts have been edited

Image taken from Twitter

From 1st October, advertisements in France have to abide by a new rule stating that if the photo has been edited, the advertisement must state this fact in an effort to protect people viewing the ads. The new rule has come about due to 'the government essentially trying to tackle persistent image-doctoring as a public health issue' (bbc news). Its hoped that this rule will challenge the problem of people- especially women, being represented in an unrealistic manor in the media. Models being presented being photoshoped is leading to audiences gaining a distorted view on body and beauty standards- resulting in people becoming extremely unhappy with their body image which have resulted in people having eating disorders and other self-esteem problems.

It's seemed that the general population favours thinness over fatness, seemingly due to the portrayal of thinness in the media being more attractive. The media has a massive influence on people's mentality and by promoting and representing models in this respect, consumers are predisposed to having the mentality that it's normal and better to be extremely slim and that anything else isn't attractive. France's new rule hopes to change this mentality and promote a healthier lifestyle. France is not the first country to take action in a similar manor, Isreal has previously used the same type of rules to battle the same issue.

This movement is extremely relevant in today's society as more and more people are suffering with mental health issues and eating disorders in correlation to serious concerns with body image. The body standards echoed in the media are seeming impossible to achieve, which is seconded by the fact most models are modified in photoshop- yet the public is expected to meet theses unrealistic standards. In today's society many people vote for a more diverse, realistic, representative selection of models used in advertisements instead of the same white, size zero models groups demand for more ethnic, 'healthier', and more diverse models to be used in media- especially in the fashion industry.


References
Eggert, Nalina. (2017). Is she Photoshopped? In France, they now have to tell you. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41443027?ocid=socialflow_twitter. Last accessed 30th Sep 2017.