Advertising Is Good For You

Barbie looks like crap without makeup

Mexican artist Eddi Aguirre has been playing with Barbie.

He imagines what Barbie might look like after a night of heavy partying — before her makeup artist and stylist have done their magic.

The best animal portraits you've ever seen

These images are the work of photographer Yago Partal.

Click here to see 21 more animal portraits from this series.

Via Toxel

Thumbs don't kill people

Thumbs & Ammo is the blog that believes, "Real tough guys don't need guns, they just need a positive, can-do attitude."

The blog uses Photoshop to turn guns into thumbs up. Often with hysterical results.

 

Either she's a gray* or somebody sucks at Photoshop

Just look at the size of this woman's head in proportion to her body.

* This is a gray.

Movie Poster: Identity Thief

This movie poster pisses me off.

Melissa McCarthy is a very talented and popular actress. She stars in a hit TV show and has already been in a couple of very successful movies. The woman is a bankable star. People love her. Which is quite an achievement for a very overweight woman who makes her living in an industry obsessed with physical perfection.

So what was the point of photoshopping her face into such slender proportions that she's unrecognizable in this poster for her most recent movie? The public accepts and loves her just as she is. Why can't the people in charge of promoting her movie?

Image via IMP Awards

An ad only a ComiCONN nerd could love

Though the photographers at One Eyeland are very talented, this ad grosses me out.

So, you want to lay off your last competent proofreader? Suit yourself.

In case you missed it, here's the May 5th cover of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Living section:

 

Via AdFreak

If you're selling pricey preppy clothes, you should iron before showing them on your website

Swiped these from the website of a Massachusetts retailer. The store's tagline might as well be, "Discount looks at premium prices."

Celebrity Saturday: Britney Spears for Candies

 

On the right is a photoshopped ad of Britney Spears that will appear in a Candies ad. On the left is the un-retouched photo that Britney Spears allowed to be released "as a way of telling young girls to keep their body image realistic."

Clearly, the irony is lost on the pop princess.

Click here to see a couple of existing Candies ads featuring Britney Spears.

Celebrity Saturday: Kim Kardashian looks even more plastic than usual

Via Stylelist

Celebrity Saturday: Jessica Simpson

It wasn't enough to turn 31-year-old Jessica Simpson into a teenager by over-photoshopping her face in this ad for her newest fragrance, I Fancy You. Parts of her right arm were chopped off and, evidently, her left arm was stretched on the rack.

Look at the distance between her right shoulder and her elbow. Now look at the distance between her elbow and her wrist.

Last, look at her left shoulder and imagine where her elbow would be. Now look at where her right hand is.

What a freak show.

Click here to see Jessica Simpson promoting another of her fragrances.

Via Go Fug Yourself

The commercial that shows me for the hypocrite that I am

Oh, sure, I'm full of big talk about how the advertising industry goes to extremes to make the women in ads look more perfect than is naturally possible. See here, here and here, for example.

But then this commercial comes on, usually during American Morning on CNN, and all I can think is, Why doesn't that woman do something about that honkin' big nose of hers?



Click here to watch the Luna flooring commercial featuring the woman with the, um, unconventional nose.

Actually, I don't think I'm a total hypocrite. I've never claimed to want to see only 'real' people in ads and fashion media.

In the context of marketing and fashion, there has to be an aspirational element for most of us to be interested enough to stop, look and read. We simply aren't interested in a shampoo or new jeans that promise no change in our appearance. Though, it would be nice if the images to which we aspire were at least attainable.

Celebrity Saturday: Rachel Weisz for Bulgari Jasmin Noir

If I didn't know better, I'd say this is a woman who somewhat resembles Rachel Weisz.

I'll never understand why brands pay celebrities millions for their endorsement only to disguise them with makeup and photoshopping.

Click here to see an ad for Bulgari Mon Jasmin Noir featuring Kirsten Dunst.