Yesterday I came across an article in the Daily Mail which highlighted a new campaign from Debenhams; “Debenhams bans the airbrush from swimwear ad campaign – and lays bare all the sneaky tricks of the trade.” A quick Google search showed this story also featured in the Evening Standard, Marie Claire, The Telegraph as well as countless websites. Each time the story appeared it seemed very much like a cut and paste job from the original press release. You can judge this for yourselves, here is the original press release in full for comparison to the articles I linked to above;

Debenhams Unveils Beauty Untouched

First High Street Retailer to Use Un-airbrushed Images

Debenhams broke ranks with the rest of the high street today by using un-airbrushed photography in a trial window to launch new swimwear lines for the summer.

It believes that over use of some digital photography techniques to create unrealistic body shapes and flawless skin may instead can make women feel more insecure about their natural looks and size.

Debenhams will be canvassing customer feedback on the raw images in a move which highlights the retailer’s long standing commitment to encouraging positive body-image through minimal digital retouching.

Says Mark Woods, Director of Creative & Visual, “As a responsible retailer we want to help customers make the most of their beauty without bombarding them with unattainable body images.

“Our campaign is all about making women feel good about themselves – not eroding their self belief and esteem by using false comparisons.

“Not only does it make sense from a moral point of view, it ticks the economic boxes as well. Millions of pounds a year are spent by organisations retouching perfectly good images.

“As a rule we only airbrush minor things like pigmentation or stray hair and rely on the natural beauty of models to make our product look great.

“We are proud to bring the issue of re-touching into the main stream when the likes of Britney Spears and Madonna are using un-airbrushed but over-lit images as a shock tactic.”

Caryn Franklin, fashion commentator and broadcaster, says, “Retailers do have the power to take a stance on digital manipulation. Fashion and beauty imagery that is honest, is absolutely crucial for all women to see. I’m delighted that Debenhams has taken the lead here and customer feedback will no doubt validate this important step.”

Signage in the window will read: ‘We’ve not messed with natural beauty; this image is un-airbrushed. What do you think?’

It will also show customers an example of just how much the image could have been altered; including all of the following:

• Arms slimmed
• Legs made thinner
• Waist pulled in significantly
• Stray hairs tidied
• Skin tone changed and smoothed
• Creases in garments removed
• Under-eyes smoothed and lightened
• Cleavage enhanced
• Underarms tidied

Jo Swinson, Lib Dem MP and co-founder Campaign for Body Confidence MP said, “Its great news that Debenhams will be using images of real women who have not been digitally manipulated to advertise their new swimwear range.

“More and more people are realising that airbrushing and other trickery are not necessary in order for women to look beautiful.  I am sure that what this will demonstrate is that swimwear modelled by real women who have not been retouched can sell just as well as products advertised with extensive airbrushing, which has become the norm.

“Women can feel good about themselves knowing that beauty is not about achieving the unachievable.”

Other advertisers regularly use digital techniques to slim waists, lengthen legs, perfect teeth, and even change eye colour and skin tone.

This is not the first time Debenhams has shown its commitment to promoting positive body image – in January the store ran a trial with size 16 mannequins in windows. The trial gathered customer feedback on a more representative size having a presence on the high street.

Also in February, Debenhams released images using disabled model Shannon Murray to launch the retailer’s new Principles by Ben de Lisi range.

The window, which celebrates natural beauty, has been unveiled this week at the Debenhams Oxford Street store with staff members will be asking shoppers what they think, before the initiative is later rolled out across the country.

Continues Mark Woods, “We’ve been showing natural beauty for years and will continue to present women in a natural and positive way.”

ENDS

Now there is nothing wrong with reporting on this campaign. It is certainly something news worthy and the campaign is a good one. But given the apparent lack of actual reporting it’s fair to say I approached this campaign with some amount of scepticism. Was this a genuine effort from Debenhams to promote realistic body image or was it a cynical ploy to run a few unairbrushed pictures in their London Oxford Street store while continuing to airbrush everywhere else?  I would be lying if I said I didn’t believe it to be the latter, as I was quick to point out on Twitter.

I contacted Debenhams with my concerns and they were very quick to respond, at first they provided me with the press release but after a couple of emails addressed my main question; were they airbrushing girls slimmer in the rest of their material? They said;

“As a general rule, we don’t airbrush girls slimmer. This is not to say that it has never been done in Debenhams’ history but for economic as well as moral reasons we cast women who we feel represent our brand well as they are.

Previously we would ‘tidy’ pictures; so that’s the stray hairs, blemishes, pigmentation etc but with these images, the ‘before’ image is completely untouched.”

I am happy to admit I was wrong on this. Not only is Debenhams campaign genuine but their commitment not to airbrush girls slimmer is something that should be commended.

Body image is a massive issue in modern society and while this is an something that mainly effects women I have seen more and more images of men of vitruvian proportions and it is a worrying trend. We should all strive to lead healthy lives but the pedestal of unattainable perfection sets unrealistic goals, women who focus on unrealistic body images tend to have lower self-esteem and these images do nothing to celebrate the variety of all our body shapes.

Well done Debenhams.