That advertisements featuring Girl’s Generation (소녀시대) are invariably photoshopped isn’t news of course, and these ones are hardly the most egregious examples either. But in a rare positive step, the before and after pictures for their latest advertisements for the LG Black Label Series Chocolate phone are currently featured on the front page of the “Enter Holic” or “Entertainmentholic” (엔터홀릭) section of the Korean MSN homepage, and so will have been the first thing many people saw when they opened Windows Live Messenger this morning.
Not to imply that most Koreans aren’t aware of photoshopping in advertisements of course. But still, anything that fosters further discussion of that is to be encouraged.
( Source: goagsu4 )
Or at least, that was my first impression. Looking more closely though, in fact it was the before images that were used in the advertisements. Unfortunately there is no information about who created the photoshopped images, or why, but with the statement “Wow! Very subtle changes make a big difference” (아주 미묘한 차이가 큰 차이를 만드는구놔), he or she implies that the altered images are to be preferred.
Sigh.
The Grand Narrative 
People in the industry who are skilled at photoshopping celebrities do not with to draw attention to their craft, lest they be kidnapped by Kim Jong-il’s handlers.
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… do not wish to draw attention…
Ah, geez. Maybe I did that subconsciously so I won’t be kidnapped to the North to teach English to future spies and saboteurs.
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Sorry if I gave the impression that I thought the before and after pictures were created by a professional photoshopper for the advertising agency. That wasn’t my intention, and I’ve made much the same point about them not wanting to draw attention to their craft myself.
I wonder who did make the images though?
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I’ve seen Yoona… She needs NO photoshopping. Sigh.
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Seriously, if you look carefully, the actual advertisement pictures are the before ones. o_O
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Well, what I said was my first impression on this article too XD
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Even though Photoshopping is the norm now and this is kind of a “subtle” example, it still really boggles me how a few changes can make such a huge difference, not just in the picture, but in the way girls will then look at and internalize it.
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Don’t ruin it for us James!
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I read in the news today that a French minister has proprosed a law requiring media and advertisers to add a disclaimer of sorts to images that have been digitally altered.
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I mentioned that in a recent post actually (here’s the NYT article I linked to there), but thanks. And I do miss stuff often, so please continue to send things like that! :)
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We’ve had this conversation before, I know, but when I’ve asked Koreans (usually women) about photoshopping, they’re as savvy about it as anyone, in that they know how widely it’s used and what effect it has, but they still tend to find the altered images more attractive, sometimes to the point of forgetting what the real person might look like and aspiring to have the features of someone which were digitally altered. I can’t get my head around this, as I just find photosphopped images so unattractive and unappealing. Naturally, this doesn’t mean all Koreans, or even all Koreans I’ve spoken to about it. For me, I think what turns me off most when I see photoshopped people in Korea is that they remove all contours and colours from they’re faces, of which this is a prime example. Video game graphics look more real and more appealing. I don’t get how people could ever prefer the altered images and even be naive enough to want to imitate features that didn’t exist until some guy was playing around with them on his computer.
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I don’t know what to add to that sorry Seamus, as I can’t find anything I don’t agree with!
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