HNTP (How Not to Photoshop)

Major kerfuffle lit up the blogosphere this week when a horrifically altered image of a model appeared in a Ralph Lauren ad. It gave rise to two key questions:
1. Had RL done the Photoshopping to make this woman look circus-freak thin or was it the work of a prankster? (RL ended the intrigue and offered a mea culpa today.)
2. Could RL, as copyright owner, demand that ISPs take down blog posts critical of the image under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A few blinked but others didn't.
Let's tackle both in discussion.
What are the social implications of digitally altering subjects' appearances? How much is too much? What factors prompt these kinds of manipulations? What are the ethical lines?
Do you infringe another person's copyright when you post an image for purposes of criticizing it? Should Blogger have taken down the image? Should Boing Boing's ISP have done the same?
What, if any, are the lasting implications for the RL brand?

Magazine retouching

Great submission from a 202er (who blushes a bit in confessing to reading Perez Hilton).

Hi there,

I know I came upon this via Perez Hilton (guilty), but I thought it was really interesting. The Republican anchor is angry because Sarah Palin's photo in Newsweek wasn't touched up. Thought you may find this intriguing!

Best,

http://perezhilton.com/2008-10-09-republicans-are-in-a-tizzy

I want to know what you think. Many complain that magazine covers ARE retouched. What do we think when they AREN'T?

Photo manipulation

Here's a terrific resource to expand on yesterday's lecture discussion of manipulation of images. Check it out.
But a student raised a great discussion topic via IM. Manipulation is supposedly verboten in news. What about strat comm? Swimsuit models don't really look like they appear to in ads. They've been retouched to look better. Is this OK? Do you think the average consumer understands this? Should that matter? What are the social implications of making people look better than they actually do? What are the gender implications.