Celebrities could be banned from posting airbrushed pictures without stating they have been changed under a proposed new law.
Tory MP Doctor Luke Evans wants advertisers, social media companies and broadcasters to label pictures which have been doctored to make people look slimmer or more muscly because the Hinckley and Bosworth MP, who is also a GP, said society was creating idealistic and unachievable aspiration, leading to low self-esteem, stress and depression.
Doctor Luke Evans pointed to reality celebs Lauren Goodger and Spencer Matthews, who have both spoken out about feeling anxiety when posting images on social media and the MP said that it was only human to want to compare ourselves to one another, our house, our car, our clothes, and possibly, the oldest of them all, what we look like.
And he continued that research carried out by the Florida House Experiment revealed that 87 per cent of women and 65 per cent of men compare themselves to pictures in the media, but what if what is shown in the media isn’t actually present in reality?
“And here lies the problem. We, society, are creating an unrealistic and unachievable aspiration.”
The bill would require images to carry a logo, drawing viewers attention to the fact that they’ve been doctored, similar to paid-for content or political adverts.
Doctor Luke said that he didn’t want to prevent people from removing red eyes on wedding pictures or filter to improve the lighting, but when the body ratios have been fundamentally altered, the viewer should know.
“This is a call for honest advertising, and we have a precedent for it already. We have the ‘P’ in product placement, we have disclaimers in political adverts and we have ‘not actual game footage’ on adverts for video games.
“This is simply the translation of current practice into the digital world of body image.”
Love Island celebrity Laura Anderson recently told the BBC it could be a positive move and she said, at first, she wasn’t 100 per cent sure but that now she’s all for it and she believed that it was great that we have choices and we all have our reasons for why we edit.
However, if we’re calling for honesty in advertising, then the Tories should come with a public health warning.
And great, we have over four million homeless and working people using food banks and this guy’s party breaking International laws, but hey, let’s sort out photoshop and as an MP he’s got bigger problems on his plate, which he should get sorted first.
