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Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
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littletater
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
I used to work for the company, especially with the color corrections & post production departments - and can comment on the Filippa image as well as the polo images: for one, the polo images are usually corrected from an already existing image. whoever requested the color correction probably used a darker color as a reference, as Zombie Ms. Skittles said. as for the horrible, stretched out image - the model had gained weight, and RATHER than book another model, use camera trickery, WHATEVER, they went with awkwardly Photoshopping her body to look thinner and thereby ridiculously freakish. The image was pulled after numerous internal complaints.
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aimeeg
10/08/09

@littletater: I know this is an outlandish and perfectly crazy suggestion, but they COULD have used the image how it actually looked. Do they really think women look at pictures of models and think 'oh my sweet jesus, that model's put on 4 pounds! I shall definitely not be buying THESE clothes again.' Why can't these companies get it into their heads that we just do not want to see this!
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pesematology
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
Can I tell you how in love I am with Cory Doctorow? No, I can't. Because there are not words.
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Old Jean Gallagher
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
To me, what is offensive about this (and most things, to me anyway) isn't the content, but the intent, and sometimes the tone. I mean, if this had been a piece of digital photography in an art gallery, I would be all for it - it's placement and intent would probably make it speak volumes about ridiculous industry standards foisted upon women. (TBH, when I first laid eyes on the picture, I thought it was a joke, or at least some attempt to be artsy and demented, like those Steve Madden prints ads from the turn of the century.)

This though. I can't believe they were being serious. And it's their assumption of being taken seriously that's so offensive about it.
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sydbarrettsaves, emissary of hell
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
At my last job, I worked as a production manager for a photographer. I photoshopped all of our images. I was asked to construct fake belly buttons for pregnant women because they didn't like the one they had. Sometimes I'd draw on various body parts when they were cut out. I was asked to do some ridiculous things, which I thought were tactless, but I was following the direction of the photographer. So I believe it's not just the photo retoucher's fault these pictures are disgusting.

Everything is examined before it goes to print. This is why I think whoever did this was probably just following instructions. I would attribute this monumental failure to Ralph Lauren, and the needs established by its ad designers, instead of the individual executing the work.
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Edited by sydbarrettsaves, emissary of hell at 10/07/09 6:08 PM

Jenna
10/07/09

@sydbarrettsaves, emissary of hell: That's a very good point; it's likely the retoucher(s) involved were just following orders. The epic fail is the company's.
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LaComtesse
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
Guys, it’s not Photoshop: that’s just how we countesses are built. We are comforted in knowing that we could fit our bodies down drains if we ever had to, you know, in the case of revolutionary peasants. Also, it’s nice to know if you ever run out of clothes, you can wear straws as tube tops and mini-skirts.
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applejuice
10/07/09

@LaComtesse: I personally am currently wearing an empty paper towel tube as a bustier. And I only had to have three ribs removed! I've got a long way to go before I can meet countess straw wearing standards!
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sarasasa
10/07/09

@LaComtesse: Seriously, how can people be so naive? It's pretty obvious that the picture in question is the only one in the bunch that hasn't been photoshopped. Geez.
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abair
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
Um, Boing Boing may have a suit against the Ralph Lauren for not going through the preliminary fair use analysis before sending the takedown notice to Google and the ISP. See Lenz v. Universal, which held that the copyright owner must conduct a fair use analysis during its initial review before sending the takedown notice.
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meritxell: an erotic life
10/07/09

@abair: lol, good call
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Hiroine Protagonist
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
God, really? THIS gets through a whole PR production process and it doesn't occur to anyone that the model looks like she is literally on the verge of death? You guys suck.
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Edited by Hiroine Protagonist at 10/07/09 5:07 PM

fuzzylizardkitten
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
A large part of me hopes, nay prays, that somewhere, a disgruntled photo retoucher is snickering somewhere proclaiming, "Bwahahaha, those suckers. They wanted her thinned down, and HOOO BOOOOY did I thin her down!".

You keep schtickin' it to the man and make them lookin' like the greedy fools they are, photo retoucher.
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applejuice
10/07/09

@fuzzylizardkitten: I love to imagine them in the break room laughing with all the other photo retouching minions about how far they were able to push things today.

"Ha ha, today I gave one of the male models a third nipple and no one even noticed!"
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Ananelle
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
There's a great comment from littletater on Consumerist that I would link to, but instead, I will repost, since I don't think consumerist links work anymore.

FWIW, I worked for the company at the time, especially closely to the graphics department that "created" this image. The model had gained weight and he-llo, rather than booking another model, or choosing a different pose, they decided to just make her look thinner in post-production. I know several higher-ups were opposed to the publishing of the image, but it was eventually approved, only to be criticized internally when everyone realized how absolutely ridiculous it looked.

If it matters at all, the link to the comment is: [consumerist.com]
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nex0s
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
They used my tip! YIPEEE! I feel like a Real Jezzie (tm) finally!
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Lymed
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
This one is just confusing to me because it is not just how thin she is, her chest is in the wrong place. I really wonder if this was an image that got morphed in resizing for print and just wasn't caught.
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MagicEyes
10/07/09

@Lymed: It's way more than that. It's hard to see on this image, but they completely freakishly distorted her arms--they look like toothpicks. Her arms are much too thin, and her body is too thin to support a head that size. Check out a larger version of the image at [www.boingboing.net]

That's some bad Photoshop!
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Lymed
10/07/09

@MagicEyes: Which is why I can't imagine this was intentionally done by Ralph Lauren. It is a weird shaped ad, and I wonder if the image was somehow distorted before printing.
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Crackers In Bed
10/08/09

@Lymed: i'm not sure what you mean by "morphed" and "distorted" for printing. while there might be very small discrepancies in width vs height ratios, print producers always have the specs for the ads they are creating. this looks like one of those back lit newsstand posts you see in downtown areas of major cities -- therefore the specs would be widely available, and they would know beforehand what size they were designing - and printing - for.
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KaneBaker
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
I have a hard time believing this real. I'm thinking someone messed around with the image than sent it around.
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Jenna
10/07/09

@KaneBaker: If that were the case, the company would be denying authorship of the image, not sending cease-and-desist letters to protect its intellectual property.
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rodmanstreet
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
Was that photoshop deal supposed to be serious? My first impression was that it must be exaggerated on purpose, like a comment on thinness and photoshop. I figured it was done sarcastically. Oh, you witty, self-aware fashion people!

But I guess the cease and desist letter says otherwise.
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hydrogen_jukebox
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
Sometimes I really believe that professional photo retouchers all went to the "Exquisite Corpse" school of Photoshop: as in, three or four people all take a different piece of the same picture and Shop it into oblivion. Then one is blindfolded, and they then have to reassemble the picture into something approximating the original image.
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Dauphine
10/07/09

@hydrogen_jukebox: I have to say that the idea of playing Exquisite Corpse via photoshop (or graphic chats) is awesome.
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alouette
10/07/09

@Dauphine: Mr alouette and I do it on nintendo DS sometimes. It's not as sophisticated as photo shop, but just as fun!
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
10/07/09

In reply to Ralph Lauren's Ridiculous Photoshop; More Ridiculous Rage
By the time they get done with the Photoshop these days it's almost more like Dali than Giacometti, it seems.
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Gavagirl
10/07/09

@Rooo sez BISH PLZ: someone will come up with a way to breed 6 ft tall mantises soon, and then human women won't need to model clothes anymore at all!
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