I'm glad I was sitting down when I read this because, man... that's a shocker.

Really.

Honest.

In other news, rain is wet.

bears poop in the woods!

oh fuck, even real women aren't real. Now I have no idea what standard I'm supposed to live up to.

*headdesk*

The blonde in the middle is rather humpable.

#5, what blond? I don't see her.

@6, hahahaha.

Sigh.

Pretty soon men confronted with real tits won't even recognize them

I used to do this for a living.

I doubt that either the Venus de Milo or of Willendorf are accurate to their models, as well.

Oh please--even if Photoshop wasn't used, the photographer lights the scene for the best advantage, the stylist makes everybody's hair and skin look as good as possible. Shoot angles and cropping is manipulated to get the best out of the image.

Back in the day it was called COMMERCIAL ART. Which it still is even if now it's called brand marketing. And really, would you want to be bombarded with "real" images of "real" people? There's plenty of that to go around just walking down the sidwalk.

I would be content to have myself and the ladies challenge Qaddafi and his elite bodyguards to a friendly softball match.

Newsflash: every ad you've ever seen is Photoshopped. Every PICTURE you've ever seen, in a magazine, is Photoshopped.

Next thing you know, Fnarf will tell us that those pictures of buildings that don't exist that we see in design reviews aren't of real buildings ...

Or that DOA is highly unrealistic.

Real Women without zits, rashes, moles, or scars.

And @11 is on the money too. I don't think we should expect to see any advertising with the subject lit up by a cheesy fluorescent light bulb.

The point bout "Real Women" is more about body image. I had a disagreement with my roommate the other day because he thought a women on the tele was fat (she was like a size 8). But, if you're advertising soap, you are going to be concerned about the look of the skin of your models. It's not about lying about how fat you are, but how well Dove makes your skin glow.

As long as they started, they should have kept photoshopping. Those fatties were still pretty grim.

I'm with #16, I think the campaign wasn't about untarnished photos in the ad as much as it was about the women having more average bodies and facial features. As far as I can read they didn't make their thighs thinner or anything.

well, they are still selling soap, and choosing models with "perfect" or photoshopped skin. yeah, it's no big surprise. and yes, it is great that they are using different, more realistic body types then normally seen in similar commercials. but it still does stretch the truth a bit -- ie, you will have beautiful skin if you use our product. the angle is still the same, and perhaps even more effective because of the campaign.

I use Dove, and I've lost 10 pounds!

put some pannuses in that group, and its realistic. there's no way photoshop can make a fat apron look humpable.

Okay so, there was no retouching of the general body-types of the women in the Dove ad, but gee, it's pretty lame that women presumably using a product "designed" to improve their skin need to have their skin - um, "improved".

I mean, isn't the PRODUCT supposed to be doing that? And if it's not, then, well, it's not really doing its job, is it?

Next up: Comte discovers the truth behind product claims.

@20 ... um, that might have something to do with WHAT you're using it for ... could you please use a towel afterwards?

For "real women" those sure are some skinny bitches.

this version of the video is more fun to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kSZsvBY-A

i worked as a photo retoucher for a few years. it's just part of the industry! and the ovverall message is more important then if they cleaned the image up a little bit. the women featured were average looking. there's no need to be so dramatic.

Every ad is a lie.

That's why they're ads.

Dear god. Photoshopped? A magazine image?

Come ON, no kidding it's Photoshopped. They also don't show amateur photos in these magazines. This is professional stuff.

"There's lies, damned lies, statistics, ads and my tax return from last year."
- Disraeli, Twain, Churchill or some other dead guy.