Photoshop Law

Across the globe, the use of photoshop has been on the rise. Within the last 10 years, the use of this technology has caused many women in particular to gain mental disorders due to the unrealistic body standards it presents. Some of these disorders include body dysmorphia, anorexia, bulimia and depression. According to the University of Notre Dame’s Australia Law Review, they note that, “Children and teenagers ‘are particularly vulnerable to messages and images conveyed through the mass media because many of them ‘cannot discriminate between what they see and what is real” (Bromberg et la.). What this means is that photoshop causes serious problems for young adults because they will assume the image where someone’s body is altered is realistic, when it is nearly unattainable. Some may say that the United States should not implement a Photoshop Law because it will regulate the modeling industry too much. I believe that the United States needs to implement the “Photoshop Law” because it will legally mandate photographers to label when one’s body has been altered in order to promote women’s health.

Eating disorders in women are only increasing with the growing use of social media. Specifically one disorder I will be talking about is body dysmorphic disorder which has been on the rise in this generation. To start off with, body dysmorphia is a psychological condition where one has uncontrollable thoughts about the way their body not only looks but also how it is perceived by other people. Dr. Patrick Byrne is the chairman of the Head and Neck Institute and his specialty is facial plastic and reconstructive surgery and attended John Hopkins University (Byrne 2021). He was being interviewed and explained how he’s seen a rise in body dysmorphic disorder or BDD within his patients. A statistic he gave the viewer stated that, “…we see a lot of clinicians perform cosmetic surgery…our own estimates may be as high as 13% of the patients we see” (Byrnes 2021). Cosmetic surgeries are in the attempts to fix these individuals’ physical flaws and shows that they have high enough concerns for their body image that they’re willing to pay enormous amounts to fix it. Another statement he gave was in regards to how much these patients suffer because body dysmorphia correlates very strongly with depression and substance abuse (Byrne 2021). Not only do these eating and psychological disorders have their own individual impacts but also major health concerns that follow. For these reasons the United States needs to take action in order to take a step forward to solve these problems.

In March 2014, Congress introduced the “Truth in Advertising Act” to the House of Representatives. According to Melanie Nevamanikkam, an associate member of the University of Cincinnati Law Review, “The original goal was for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to regulate to what extent advertisers could digitally alter images used in advertisements through a systematic framework” (Navamanikkam 2017). The Federal Trade Commission is a federal agency that works to protect consumers from deceptive and unfair business practices through law enforcement and education. Although the goal had good intentions and was presented to the right organization, the issue with it was based on how broad the Act was.

The Act seeked to control regulation on all digitally altered advertisements. With the topic being so broad it presents the issue of what is necessarily misleading and what is not. Since not every digitally manipulated photo is necessarily contributing to negative body image, the decision depended on what the consumer felt rather than concrete statements. Furthermore, another big problem caused by this Act was due to the fact that it could infiltrate an individuals privacy right. Melanie Nevamanikkam explains what this means by stating, “A social influencer who posts sponsored content for makeup would either be restricted in their own private choice to edit their photographs, or be forced to disclose any editing” (Schirmer et la.). This is an important aspect of why the original Act failed because targeting bigger companies is easier than trying to control what every single person is doing. Trying to restrict all digital altercations produces too many drawbacks and is why we need to find a new way to combat this problem.

Many celebrities and individual companies are taking a more body positive approach but because it is only individuals trying to make change, it is not effective. For example brands such as Aerie, Dove and ASOS have started to use a more body positive perspective by reducing retouching of their models’ photos and using more realistic images. Individually, some celebrities have started to even push back against having their body’s retouched. (Schirmer et al. ) Beyonce and Bradd Pitt are just two examples of those who are tired of having their body digitally manipulated. Kate Winslet, an English actress, has a “no photoshop” clause in her contract with L’Oréal to bring even more legal insight to this issue. (Schirmer et al. ) Having celebrities have a realistic body positive platform would help those young adults who aspire to be like them and could potentially steer future generations away from the thin ideal.

Although individuals have taken a step towards change, major companies still have incentive to photoshop models in attempts to appeal to the consumers’ eye. An example of why we need bigger change is because the body positive clothing brand, Skims, just recently faced negative attention due to the editing of Tyra Banks body. (Devi 2022) Kim Kardashian received various comments on the hypocrisy of still photoshopping someone’s body even though she had a beautiful body without the image being manipulated. This shows that even brands who claim they want to move towards the body positive movement are still stuck in their old ideals to satisfy what they believe is the “standard”. The good news is that more consumers are starting to go against these brands and outwardly criticize them for the unobtainable bodies they are portraying. Although these are positive steps in the right direction, I still believe that we need to implement the “Photoshop Law ‘’ in the United States to regulate the major companies in order to see a real change.

The “Photoshop Law” exists in multiple countries including Australia, France and Israel. On October 1, 2017, France passed a law that states “any models appearing in commercial photography whose bodies have been made thinner or thicker by image processing software must be accompanied by the notice of “photographie retouchée,” or retouched photograph” (Held 2017). Along with not only stating the photo has been manipulated, there is also a fine of 75,000 euros plus six months in prison (Held 2017). The significance of France implementing this law is because Paris is one of the fashion capitals of the world and has a high reputation. Israel’s Photoshop Law consists of the same ideology, except it does not have specific criminal sanctions for breaching it. Although the laws are similar in both countries I feel that there needs to be legal punishment like there is in France in order to show companies how serious this matter is. These are important aspects that need to be talked about in the law so that it is clear what the United States is going to do.

One might ask how I would communicate to Congress my idea of implementing Frances Law into the United States. Since I am located in Los Angeles, I would write to my district’s representatives, Jimmy Gomez and Karen Bass. Furthermore, using my social media platforms to further express my ideas and concerns publicly puts more pressure on them to respond. Along with putting pressure on them to respond, it would also serve the purpose of letting the public know that I have written a letter. With more people knowing of the letter with the use of social media, it puts negative connotations on the government and these brands, which can lead to more people following the trends of going against body manipulation. I would also advocate for those to consider using the Communicating with Congress (CWC) which is specifically designed to provide advocacy vendors with an efficient means to deliver mass communications to Members of the House of Representatives. (Hysom 2008)

We should pressure our Los Angeles district representatives and Congress to show them the major health concerns America is facing due to not having this law in place. For example, some statistics we need to include is that in France nearly 600,000 citizens are suffering from eating disorders (Held 2017) and is one of the reasons why they felt the need for change. In the United States however, almost thirty million Americans have suffered from an eating disorder at some point in their lives (Held 2017). That is 50x more cases in the United States proving that we are facing a huge problem that needs to be addressed seriously. This statement shows that the United States is less worried about their citizens’ health and more concerned about how the beauty industry can capitalize on profits and popularity. Furthermore, we should talk about the way the National Eating Disorders Association, or NEDA, says numerous “studies have linked exposure to the thin ideal in mass media to body dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal, and disordered eating among women.” (Held 2017) I would also include some personal experiences of what my friends and I have faced when it comes to dissatisfaction with what our appearances are vs what is shown in magazines. This would show our representatives that this is not just some statistic but real people feel this way due to photoshop. I’m encouraging everyone to add in a personal experience because real life examples are just as valuable as these studies being done. The irony of the new thin ideal is that in Western society the body mass index (BMI) of women has actually increased (Held 2017). At this same time the number of eating disorders is also increasing because publishers are showing only the top 5% of perfect bodies rather than the majority.

To continue, we also need to emphasize the point that multiple countries have already implemented this law and that it is possible to achieve. I plan to reach out to the regulators in Australia, France and Israel to support the push for the United States to take action whether that is through social media or having them give a response in my letter. Specifically I want to write to France’s former health minister, Marisol Touraine, because he originally initiated the idea in France and did it for the promotion of body positivity and health. To build on this he stated in an article, “It is necessary to act on body image in society to avoid the promotion of inaccessible beauty ideals and prevent anorexia among young people” (Held 2017).

It is also important to point out the differences between the Truth in Advertising Act vs Photoshop Law. When writing to the representatives we need to acknowledge that they have tried to fix the problem but failed due to lack of detail, and that this new law is only a step in the right direction to fixing the problem. With other countries already putting it in place, it would be hard for the representatives to say that it would not be obtainable. The Truth in Advertising act was seeking to combat all digital altercations, meaning photoshopping someone out of the photo or changing the filter etc (Navamanikkam 2017). Photoshop Law would only seek to expose companies that alter bodies in order to make their models look more appealing. With a large fine and potential time in prison for not outwardly telling the community they photoshopped a model’s body, it would put a lot of pressure on these big companies. Not to mention that if exposed for lying many body positivity enthusiasts would go against the brand and post about it in order to uncover what they really stand for.

In conclusion, the growing number of eating disorders in America needs to be recognized and dealt with. With other countries already recognizing the problem and providing solutions in order to promote better health in women, it puts pressure on the United States to start making a change as well. The thirty million Americans that have suffered with an eating disorder at some point in their life could potentially deal with the consequences including osteoporosis, hypertension, gastrointestinal conditions and more (Bromberg et la.). In order to take a step in the right direction we need to initiate the “Photoshop Law’’ to combat these large companies from maintaining unrealistic standards for women. Not only is this law to make change in the United States, but also to promote body positivity and femininity to more countries in an attempt to make this law more global.