We’re all adults here. No one is under the delusion that images that appear in ads and on magazine covers are pure, unadulterated photos straight from the photographer’s gifted little hands. We get that. Our argument is with the overboard, over-aggressive, do-we-really-have-to-make-women-feel-crappier-about-their-bodies attempts to remake reality. So in that spirit, here we go again.
They went and made Jessica Alba look like a Barbie doll for her Campari campaign. (Just like Redbook’s attempt to re-imagine Faith Hill, if you’ll recall.) First, click here for the before shot. What you’re looking at is a woman with a smokin’ bod (especially given that she’s a new mom), who’s perfectly fabulous as is. The retouched after, above, has been hit with the magic eraser. Her waist is impossibly tiny, her chin is narrower, and a third of her left thigh is gone. Obviously this wasn’t about correcting any flaws in the original print. They just wanted to make her skinnier.
The question is: Why? Wasn’t Jessica Alba already thin enough? Isn’t she already the walking, talking definition of hotness? What’s to be gained by declaring that even she doesn’t quite measure up? I know, we’re all good and sick of articles about Hollywood’s impossible standards of beauty. But this is beyond that. This is Hollywood saying that even they don’t live up to their own standards — that they need CGI just to convey “reality.” That’s not just hypocritical, it’s silly. Because frankly, what’s the point of featuring real people if they don’t actually like the way real people look? Even the hot ones.
What about you, PopWatchers? Are you sick of having to ask yourselves which you believe — them or your lying eyes? Or is this perfectly kosher in an industry that, admittedly, is all about make-believe?
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Maybe I am just getting old, but I decided a long time ago these celebrities can’t possibly always look perfect – they are airbrushed, Spanxed, and retouched to within an inch of their lives. I don’t try to measure myself against them, that is just pointless. It took me years to lose my baby weight, not six weeks – and I am fine with that. Unfortunately I am 44 and I understand all that. Teenagers who are trying to live up to an unreal ideal – those are the ones I feel sorry for. If the real Jessica Alba isn’t good enough, what must they be thinking about themselves.
Wait…so that means my pants are allowed to have wrinkles? My legs are allowed their girth? My waist it’s imperfections? You mean it’s not all real? Oh my gosh…I feel so free…
Wait…so that means my pants are allowed to have wrinkles? My legs are allowed their girth? My waist its imperfections? You mean it’s not all real? Oh my gosh…I feel so free…
All this People magazine “body after baby” crap annoys me to no end. Whenever I see any picture of any celebrity in any magazine – yes, including the sacred EW – I assume that the photo has been retouched in some way, especially those of females. I stopped reading “fashion” magazines (the worst offenders of this) long ago because all they are selling is unrealistic expectations to women everywhere. Jessica Alba is a beautiful young woman and even in the “before” picture looks amazing after having a baby. It’s a pity that not everyone sees that. I wonder if she had final approval on her pictures…
What would really amaze me would be if Jessica Alba made a good movie, without the words Sin or City in the title that is.
I take every picture with a grain of salt. No one looks as good as those pics. No one. (except maybe Angelina)
the biggest thing to me is her eyes. they’re now staring right at me. hello!
I actually prefer the “before” pic…
I loved Alba in her Dark Angel days when she was (slightly) curvier. The past few years she’s dropped about 15 pounds too many.
Good grief. They changed her hair and whole head, along with everything else. This is just sad.
I think it’s disgusting, but come on, pretty much every picture in every magazine has been “retouched”. It’s just the way things are, and unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll ever change. I had to stop really paying attention to this kind of stuff a long time ago, because it just makes me feel gross.
True, it is disgusting. And true, is is “the way things are”. But I disagree that it’ll never change. It’ll change alright but only once it’s far too late to do it ourselves. Pride cometh before the fall nad we’re reaching the peak.
Seeing as this is an ad campaign, Madison Avenue should be blamed in addition to Hollywood.
No, you are completely right. This is getting ridiculous.
http://backorforth.blogspot.com
We can’t believe our eyes because everything is photoshopped, and we’re not supposed to believe what we hear because everyone in the media is “biased”. So, what’s left to believe?
I know that magazines and other publications tend to use photoshopping techniques, but this is ridiculous. They not only changed around her looks but also changed her pose completely. Lame. She is a no talent bore, but she is pretty to look at and she does not need to be photoshoppped. The only excuse is to brighten the colors of the picture, everything else is ridiculous.
poor thing…she looked fine in the original photo…the airbrushed one looks weird and odd…I know this is typical in the industry, but this example is plain bad…its not like Jessica Alba is a cow…leave her alone for god’s sake…
It’s gotten to the point that maybe they should just use actual Barbies. Instead of having to air brush all that much. She’s already plastic, is impossibly thin, comes in all sorts of skin tones and hair colors, the only thing they’d have to add is life to her eyes. That seems easier than airbrushing away all the other stuff. Plus she never ages, never gains weight, never talks back. Cut out all the middlemen (women) and go straight to the source. Problem solved!
Yes, the photoshopping is troubling, but the fact that an actress of such limited ability like abla became a huge star in the first place is even more troubling.
Demand more real women. People like Simon Cowell who tell AI contestents they are too fat are also telling us they think the audience is too stupid to buy into the concept of real women. Enough already with the interchangable heads of Hollywood.
Does your blog mean that EW doesn’t retouch pictures in your magazine? I think not.
She looks BETTER in the “before” picture! She looks softer, warmer, more “come hither.” She looks like a woman!
I hate what Hollywood/the media is doing to us. Women, why aren’t we fighting back? Instead, we’re all freaking out because Oprah has “admitted to tipping the scales at 200 lbs.” This is all so wrong. It makes me sick.
everyone KNOWS that magazines airbrush those pictures to the max, so why do they even bother doing it anymore? any celebrity will tell you that THEY don’t even look like what most of their pics look like. i thought the culture was trying to shift towards a healthy and real outlook on beauty, but all the airbrushing, obsessing over “celebrities without make-up”, and “this celeb is fat” tabloid rants are NOT helping.
Wow. Seriously–what’s the point of trying to photograph women at all, if they’re still not good enough for the picture? NOBODY actually lives up to whatever this ridiculous “beauty ideal” is, anyway. Who the hell is making up this crap? Nobody buys it.
…but unfortunately, they do buy the magazines. Damn.
Count me in as a fan of the ‘before’ picture. I’m so sick of people trying to make a *penny* out of making a woman feel terrible about herself. It’s a death of a thousand cuts.
I like the before pic, airbrushing is stupid. Flaws are sexy in some cases ans covering them is just a move to sell more mags. Remember Hitler didn’t dig flaws, even with his on teste.
Alison, as I said, ALL magazines do some level of retouching, whether it’s to edit out a stray wisp of hair, or correct a lighting issue. My problem is when they take a perfectly gorgeous human being and turn them into a fembot.
My question would be what is the point of even having photo shoots anymore? Why not just photoshop the whole image by retouching various other photographs if you’re going to change it this much?
I liked the before better. Seriously?!? She is fraking Jessica Alba! She does not under any circumstances need to be airbrushed & made to look thinner! This is just ridiculous.
Yeah, that’s just awful. There was nothing wrong with the before picture. The clothes bunched under the belt and creased since her legs are crossed… So they had to make it look as though the clothes were painted on? And created an impossibly tiny waist on an already beautifully proportioned woman? Plus, no belt curves the way this strange new one they created does. Absolutely pathetic and badly done– she doesn’t even look properly human anymore, the proportions are so off.