Lingerie Ads Aimed at Young Women Take a Stand Against Retouching

More compelling (at least for us) than the anti-Photoshop/retouching campaigns that have recently been going viral are the magazines and advertising campaigns that are backing these movements by actually taking excessive retouching out of the equation.

Magazines like Verily, who earlier this year explained their no-Photoshop policy, and ad campaigns like Aerie Real, a new campaign for the lingerie brand Aerie that is currently taking the Internet by storm.

The campaign has hit home in the same way that Dove’s Real Beauty campaign did; the difference is that Aerie — a lingerie sister brand of American Eagle — is a brand specifically marketed to young woman 15-21… the same ones who are most often bombarded by fake imagery and messages that promote an unhealthy body image.

The brand sells to the age group that is most susceptible and affected by Photoshopped images, and yet they’ve taken a stand against it with the the Aerie Real campaign and it’s tagline “Time to Think Real, Time to Get Real, No Supermodels, No Retouching, Because… The Real You is Sexy.”

Here’s a look at some of the ads the campaign has thus far released — as well as a video interview with one of the models — all of which were shot by photographer John Urbano:

Obviously one ad campaign isn’t going to change an industry, and the women featured have been made up and photographed under professional lighting, but we know that we’re looking at real waists, real faces and real imperfections. That is, at the very least, a step in the right direction.

As photographers, we probably have a less demonic view of Photoshop than most of society. And yet we can appreciate a campaign that says no to retouching and commits to capturing beautiful portraits in-camera.

To see more from or find out more about the Aerie Real campaign, you can head over to the brand’s website by clicking here.

(via Adweek)