Photoshop Ethical Boundaries Pushed

Every four years immediately following the Olympics the Paralympics games occur in the same cities, showcasing world-class athletes who overcome physical disabilities to participate. A bizarre publicity effort surrounding this year’s games has led ethicist and media-watchers wondering whether we are seeing an unethical Photoshop use, a novel way to call attention to the Paralympic games, or poor judgment by a photo editor.

Voge Brazil’s pushes limits of ethical Photoshop use

The Photoshop ethical controversy started with Vogue magazine’s efforts to call attention to the Paralympic games. They elected to do this by taking able-bodied athletes and then use Photoshop to make them appear disabled. What’s surprising with the recent Photoshop controversy by Vogue Brazil is the widespread availability of disabled athletes they could have photographed for use in their story. Vogue’s Photoshop use mirrors the many Photoshop retouching fails seen by retailers and advertisers. Retailer Target’s Photoshop failure was widely criticized for creating false body images, and other retailers have been stung by similar criticism.

Photoshop ethical guidelines

Most mainstream media tend to have constraints that conform to set of norms for the ethical use of Photoshop in news stories. Some media outlets only accept unretouched images from their photographers, or may only allow minor adjustments, such as lightening or darkening an image for clarity using Photoshop. Mainstream news outlets have tended to avoid Photoshop ethics controversies, but this appears to be changing with the publication of these images in Vogue in the days leading up to the Paralympic games.

Photoshop fail, ethical lapse, or publicity gimmick?

It’s unusual to see a global brand and mainstream magazine caught-up in an ethical controversy surrounding their use of images. While fashion publications certainly see their share of Photoshop controversies, they tend to involve the slimming of models rather than the wholesale replacement or removal of body parts. As an organization that delivers Photoshop training classes, we appreciate its creative possibilities. Yet we’re pondering why the thousands of real-life Paralympic athletes were ignored for this story. There must be many great stories which showcase spirit and resolve to compete, making it difficult to understand why Vogue turned to Photoshop, as sometimes real-life can be better than Photoshop.