I read an interesting article last night in Time. Apparently some “French legislators want to take consumer protection to an unprecedented level, requiring that advertisements, product labels and even campaign posters carry a warning when they feature a photograph that’s been digitally enhanced.” The article stated…

The drive against airbrushed photos is being headed by conservative parliamentarian Valérie Boyer, who says the widespread use of digital technology to alter images is feeding the public a steady visual diet of falsified people, places and products. This artificial reality leads people to expect perfection from themselves and the world in an impossible way, she says. “When writers take a news item or real event and considerably embellish it, they are required to alert readers by calling the work fiction, a novel or a story based on dramatized facts. Why should it be any different for photograph… It’s creating parallel worlds: one in which everything in ads and photos is gorgeous, slim, chic and what we aspire to, and our daily reality of imperfection, normality and frustration that we can’t be like those other people who — literally — don’t exist.”

I’ve often thought digitally enhanced pictures can cause unrealistic expectations especially for those of us who are bombarded by them daily. It’s funny to me that our culture feels the need to enhance everything so that it looks almost perfect in order to sell a product, a person or an idea. Just one more example of how we worship idealized beauty…even if it is fake.

So what do you think? Are the warning labels a good idea or another example of government going too far?