Image of ultra-thin Ralph Lauren model sparks outrage

[ken]

In recent years an ongoing debate has brewed over advertisers and fashion magazines using photographs, particularly photographs of women, that have seemingly been altered, or "retouched," by airbrushing and photo editing software such as Photoshop. The latest such image to cause an uproar is one featured in a new Ralph Lauren advertisement that shows a model, Filippa Hamilton, so emaciated that her waist actually appears to be smaller than her head.

On September 29th, Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin posted the ad, which originally appeared on a blog dedicated to pointing out suspected retouched images called Photoshop Disasters, with the comment, "Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis." Ralph Lauren responded by filing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint against Boing Boing and Photoshop Disasters, claiming that their use of the image was a copyright infringement that fell outside of the Fair Use laws which allow the media to reproduce creative content for the purposes of commentary and criticism.

The Internet service provider hosting Photoshop Disasters (Google Blogspot) deleted the post containing the image, while Boing Boing's (Canada's Priority Colo.) did not. In response, Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow issued a stern warning to Ralph Lauren yesterday on the website, saying that the company's attempt to silence their criticism has only inspired them to step up their efforts in the future:

"Copyright law doesn't give you the right to threaten your critics for pointing out the problems with your offerings. You should know better. And every time you threaten to sue us over stuff like this, we will:

a) Reproduce the original criticism, making damned sure that all our readers get a good, long look at it, and;

b) Publish your spurious legal threat along with copious mockery, so that it becomes highly ranked in search engines where other people you threaten can find it and take heart; and

c) Offer nourishing soup and sandwiches to your models."

The U.S. isn't the only place where advertisers are feeling the public backlash over retouching claims. Overseas, a recent Olay ad featuring a virtually wrinkle-free 59-year-old Twiggy caused such an uproar in the UK that the British Parliament recently proposed outlawing retouching in advertisements aimed at teenagers. The movement was initiated by the nation's Liberal Democrats, whose leader on the issue, Jo Swinson, said:

"Today's unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means that young girls are under more pressure now than they were even five years ago. Airbrushing means that adverts contain completely unattainable images that no one can live up to in real life. We need to help protect children from these pressures and we need to make a start by banning airbrushing in adverts aimed at them. The focus on women's appearance has got out of hand - no one really has perfect skin, perfect hair and a perfect figure, but women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than thin and perfect will do."

In the U.S., many retouched images featuring celebrities have been the subject of recent scorn, including a L'Oreal ad that lightened Beyonce's skin, an image of Jessica Alba airbrushed to feature a slimmer waist in a Campari ad, and an ad for London Fog featuring Gisele Bunchen in which her "baby bump" was removed.

In response to the growing concern over retouching, a website called About-Face, whose stated mission is to arm "women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect their self-esteem and body image," has sprung up. The site features a "Gallery of Offenders" as well as a "Gallery of Winners" to highlight who the site's editors feel are the advertising industry's best and worst in regards to improving and harming the image of the modern woman. Site visitors can also contribute money to help offset its operating costs as well as expand programs designed to educate young women on beauty and self-image.

Another website to garner attention for its dedication to exposing photo retouching offenses is Jezebel.com. Speaking on the subject of retouching, Jezebel editor-in-chief Anna Holmes told Yahoo!, "I don't see any point in retouching anymore ... The cat's out of the bag." She added, "I think Americans in particular are sick of having the wool pulled over their eyes ... even if it's regarding fashion models and actresses. The more they do this sort of retouching -- and then try to justify it, as the editor of SELF magazine recently did -- the less anyone believes anything else they have to say, or show. They are, in a sense, digging their own (shallow) graves."

Whether or not Holmes is right about the digging of "shallow graves" remains to be seen, but companies like Ralph Lauren certainly don't appear to be helping their cause by attempting to silence their critics, as doing so has only increased the amount of negative attention to their already controversial ad.

[Chief]

Give that girl a pie

[gtmofflin]

Ralph Lauren has since reviewed the image and apologized for its stupidity.

[tjw61]

Her name is Filippa Hamilton. She's a slender girl, but she doesn't look emaciated in these pictures, maybe it had something to do with the way the pictures were taken or photoshopped..... measurements are 33x24x35 or in cm 83x60x90 she's 5'9" or 174cm

http://supermodels.nl/filippahamilton

found this:

Ralph Lauren responds to super skinny model controversy

Fashion label Ralph Lauren has hit back at online criticism of a recent advertisement that showed a very thin woman whose head appeared to be much larger than her waist and hips.

Website Boing Boing published the image of model Filippa Hamilton which the site claimed was heavily edited in Photoshop to create the alarmingly-thin image.

In response to the online criticism, the iconic fashion label claimed that it had already “addressed the problem”.

The photo was originally posted on the blog Photoshop Disasters before it appeared on Boing Boing. One reader comment on the original posting read “Dude, her head’s bigger than her pelvis.”

Ralph Lauren’s lawyers then sent a takedown notice to Boing Boing’s Internet Service Provider, Priority Colo, who refused to remove the image claiming it fell under the rules of fair use for criticism and news reporting. Photoshop Disasters’ ISP did remove the image when they received a similar request.

Ralph Lauren have since issued a statement saying to US cable TV show ‘Extra’ saying it would ensure all future advertising images were not heavily edited to create such skeletal looking models.

“For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately,” the statement read.

Boing Boing are now offering a T-shirt bounty in an effort to uncover the identity of the person who originally edited the image of Hamilton.

[ken]

dang, she is one sexy kitten

[ken]

A size four model claims American fashion giant Ralph Lauren fired her after an eight year partnership because she was too fat to fit in the sample sizes.

Model Filippa Hamilton, who is 5’10” and 120 pounds, told NBC’s “Today Show” that although her size has never fluctuated since she began working for the fashion house, they recently fired her through her agent because she “couldn’t fit in their clothes anymore.”

While the termination news came in April, Hamilton, 23, said she never had any intention of going public with Ralph Lauren’s alleged reason for firing her. But when a heavily altered image surfaced of Hamilton looking dangerously emaciated, she said she felt it was time to speak out.

“Every young woman is going to look at [the photo] and think that it is normal to look like that,” Hamilton told “Today” host Ann Curry. “It’s not. I saw my face on this super-extremely skinny girl, which is not me. It makes me sad. It makes me think that Ralph Lauren wants to have this kind of image. It’s an American brand … and it’s not healthy, and it’s not right.”

For their part, Ralph Lauren denies that they fired Hamilton for being too big to fit in the clothes as she alleges.

“We consider her an important part of our imaging and branding,” the company said via statement. “We regret that our relationship has ended as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us.”

Hamilton denies this claim, saying she was loyal to the company, never gained weight and was consistently on time for work.

“I was very sad. I’ve been working with them since I was 15 years old. For me they were my second family, so I was very hurt by this,” Hamilton said before adding that she didn’t know if she would be pursuing legal action.
If my wife was a size 4 I'd be rushing her to the hospital.

[gilmerman]

Us early men drew stick people and we did not think they were sexy. The designers are way off base, they are not with todays people. It seems to be a control problem. we pay, you look like we want.

[keefer]

I would hope anyone seeing the Lauren photo would realize that that is not an uaaltered photo. No one healthy(mentally or physically) would look like that.
Sopciety is way to gullible

[lenny1]

i like girls w/ curves, but thin is in 4 some people