Ralph Lauren Addresses Scandelously Photoshopped Ad

Filed Under: Photoshop Awardz Ralph Lauren

The other day we told you about the Ralph Lauren advertisement featuring a badly butchered (via Photoshop) rendering of model Filippa Hamilton.

The model had been airbrushed to look so alarmingly thin that her head appeared significantly larger than her pelvis.

At first, Ralph Lauren attempted, in vain, to sue website Boing Boing for reprinting the ad with criticism (any first year law student could tell you that reproduction of work for use as criticism is universally accepted as fair use). But finally, the all American brand is taking responsibility for the freaky Photoshop, releasing this statement:

"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."

That's it? We were kind of hoping for a little more contrition and something about the misuse of retouching and the message the distortion sent to female consumers.

Well, better than nothing, we guess!

Posted: October 9, 2009 at 2:00 pm