authentic point of view

August 15, 2014 4:51 PM

Modcloth just became the first fashion retailer to sign the Heroes Pledge for Advertisers, promising the following:

1. To do our best not to change the shape, size, proportion, color and/or remove/enhance the physical features, of the people in our ads in post-production.
2. That if we do materially change* the people in our ad(s), we will add a “Truth In Advertising” label to these ads to ensure consumers, in particular children and teens, do not confuse an advertising “ideal” with what’s real. (Specific Label Language and Size Requirements TBD.)
3. Not to run these ads in media where children under 13 might see them.

As Nancy Ramamurthi, ModCloth’s CMO explained, signing the pledge was a “no brainer.”

Two years ago, Seventeen magazine pledged not to digitally alter body sizes or face shapes of young women featured in its editorial pages.

posted by roomthreeseventeen (14 comments total)

Modcloth also encourages customers to post photos of themselves in the clothes, which is super helpful. I really like seeing pictures of garments on people with non-model bodies, speaking as someone who is really not shaped like any model who has existed in the since at least 1900.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 4:54 PM on August 15, 2014 [4 favorites]

1. To do our best not to change the shape, size, proportion, color and/or remove/enhance the physical features, of the people in our ads in post-production.

This might be naive, but is really not something you can just say you're not going to do? At all?
posted by ftm at 4:56 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

ftm: I would imagine there are times that you want to make a color "pop" more or you screwed up during the shoot and the shot that looks the best in 100 ways has one goofy hair or some crap going on, and in those situations it'd be nice to make a change.
posted by JauntyFedora at 4:58 PM on August 15, 2014

That's great and all, but the language reminds me of this.
posted by Ickster at 5:02 PM on August 15, 2014

That makes perfect sense, although I still feel you could make that a sub bullet and leave "shape/size/proportion" as inviolable.
posted by ftm at 5:04 PM on August 15, 2014

Meh. Till they make a better effort at plus size and dresses that go beyond the top of my thigh, don't even care. Asos 4eva.
posted by dame at 5:16 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'd be fine if they just added a nutrition facts thing, like

"Photo was edited to correct:
White balance/color grading and correction
Contrast
Temperature
Tone mapping"

And then you'd know it hadn't actually been doctored.

it's like the difference between some EQ, a fancy preamp, and compression being applied to a vocal track... and auto-tune.

"This photo was edited" is a meaningless disclaimer, because it could mean anything. If that's all they have to say, everyone will sign on and then basically every page will say that somewhere soon.
posted by emptythought at 5:21 PM on August 15, 2014 [6 favorites]

JauntyFedora: "in those situations it'd be nice to make a change"

However

Material change means only changes to a person's shape, size, proportion, color, removal and/or enhancement of individual features. If you want to photoshop a blue sky bluer; clean up a fly-away hair; fix a dog's smile...have at it; because no harm results

But you might have a special situation like some sort of theme going where your models have weird skin tone (aliens maybe?) and that can be easier to accomplish in post. Though Modcloth may not desire that occasional freedom it looks like the Heroes Pledge for Advertisers is designed to be broadly inclusive and allowing a mechanism for (hopefully rare) exceptions will get more organisations to sign up.
posted by Mitheral at 5:21 PM on August 15, 2014 [1 favorite]

although I still feel you could make that a sub bullet and leave "shape/size/proportion" as inviolable.

There is also lens distortion, and/or photoediting to correct the lens distortion (which raises the question of which shape/proportions are the "true" ones). I like the "nutrition facts" style labelling idea, though I assume the TIA label will be more like the MPAA's rating system.
posted by anonymisc at 5:32 PM on August 15, 2014

This is unfair, as they apparently make clothes that wear you. That blue dress, man. It's almost certainly sentient and has picked the best human to accessorize the shoes it's selected. It's trying to get the green dress over a tough breakup with a peacoat by showing it a night on the town.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:00 PM on August 15, 2014

I think it's a well thought out pledge. You can still work to make the photo look good but, if you change the proportions or the skin color of the model, you have to say you did it. I shop at Modcloth because they have aggressively sought out designers who will make plus sized clothes that are just as cool and fun as the smaller sizes. Another point in their favor.
posted by Foam Pants at 7:38 PM on August 15, 2014

Mitheral: Material change means only changes to a person's shape, size, proportion, color, removal and/or enhancement of individual features. If you want to photoshop a blue sky bluer; clean up a fly-away hair; fix a dog's smile...have at it; because no harm results


Oh, I should RTFA, shouldn't I? Apologies.
posted by JauntyFedora at 12:16 AM on August 16, 2014 [1 favorite]

They might be the first to sign the pledge, but Aerie, American Eagle's lingerie arm, started doing unretouched photos earlier this year.
posted by jabes at 9:49 AM on August 16, 2014

This will, without a doubt, force them to be really selective with their models and photographers, so that they just take the photo correctly to start with.
posted by Peregrine Pickle at 5:59 PM on August 16, 2014