Marketing Images are a Lie

How do we understand and create images?

Images play a vital part to running any business. They are visually engaging and create and interest to a product to a complete range of audiences which would not have otherwise been accessed. An image can actually make something look much better than what it actually is. Using particular photo editing devices, an image may be manipulated to almost ‘fool’ the audience to be more enticed to a product.

There are 3 photo editing softwares that I am aware of that make products and just about anything look better than they actually are.

The first is Adobe Spark. This software is good for creating logos. It is also the type of software that allows you to add a photo and then create text over the top of it. Sound basic? Well yes, it is, but the end result looks far from basic. It is the type of thing which you see on websites like Tumblr. You could get a photo of a basic balloon and then get a basic text such as ‘live’ to go over it and the end product is an appealing image. This process is quick and easy and anybody can do it with any skill set, yet the end product is very marketable.

The second is Canva. This helps create poster like images. Once again it is very quick and easy to use and creates a perfect end product. It is helpful in creating eye catching advertisements for the product.

The third is Pixlr. This is a very similar program to Photoshop. Pixlr allows you to edit real life images. This could be changing one image or combining multiple images to make it look real. You could start with one image and create a completely new image. It also allows you to emphasise certain parts of an image to attract the viewer to that part the most.

Many people would have seen the video of the girl with no makeup who gets her photo taken and then it is manipulated through Photoshop so much that it looks like a completely different girl. This is what these software’s can do. They make a product look a lot better than what it really is. (Piper, 2006).

The following is the short video of how they manipulated the image.

Editing images in this way could create ethical issues. Many consumers are in fact ‘fooled’ by an advertisement and will be let down by the results of the product. If the product is a beauty product such as in this video, it may place pressure on people to have an unrealistic body image. (Newsom, 2013).

We must always keep in mind that marketing images are not always what they really are.

Free access to the three image editing software’s mentioned can be found here.

Adobe Spark

Canva

Pixlr

References

Newsom, J. (2013). The Evolution video: How images of beauty are manipulated by the media. Dove- Self Esteem Project.

Piper, T. (2006). Dove Evolution. Toronto, USA. Ogilvy & Mather.