Watch Four Women React To Being Retouched Into Cover Models
Yahoo editors have selected this as one of the best videos of 2014.
Maybe it’s no surprise that when offered the opportunity to be featured in a celebrity-style photo shoot, four women jumped at the chance. The shocker: their negative reaction to the retouched results.
The BuzzFeed video “Four Women React to Their Photoshop Makeovers” struck a chord with viewers. It racked up over 5 million views in one week and has become one of BuzzFeed’s top 10 videos of all time.
The idea for the video was an “experiment” that asks: “How would women who weren’t models or celebrities react if you Photoshop them the way that cover models are regularly Photoshopped?” Andrew Gauthier, the video producer, told Yahoo.
He added that the women were chosen for their “unique backgrounds and perspectives.” Their conclusions to the photos were all the same, and everyone involved in making the video “was totally surprised by the reaction,” said Gauthier.
At first the four women expressed their frustration with physical perfection found in fashion magazines, calling it “a never-ending battle” that made them “self-conscious” and “wanting to look a certain way.”
Then, the four got the royal treatment: hair and makeup sessions and professional photo shoots.
The images were next manipulated to transform the women into cover models: Imperfections were erased, curves smoothed, hair and skin lightened and brightened.
When they saw the results, rather than embrace their airbrushed images, the women were critical of their alter egos.
Ella Mielniczenko, a 23-year-old who is featured in the video, told Yahoo she thought the project sounded like fun and expected to be happy with the result, figuring that “anyone could look like a supermodel with the right lighting, makeup, and Photoshop techniques.” But when she saw the photos, she was “shocked.”
The Los Angeles resident added, “After seeing this perfected version of myself, I realized I really didn’t want to look like that, because nobody really looks like that.”
Overall, she left the experience feeling more positive about herself. “Even though I’ll still be critical of myself at times, it’s important to accept who you are and to love yourself.”
The video has inspired plenty of talk. “Everyone should watch this,” posted Shames Radi on YouTube.
"This made me cry," Angeline Smiles wrote. "It’s sad that our generation’s affected so strongly by looks."
Not everyone agreed, though. “Damn I would feel horrible after seeing the hotter, thinner, prettier me,” Jem Graham joked on Facebook. Others questioned if the women are actors. (Gauthier said they are not.)
He said he had received comments from “all over the planet” and noted, “It’s really exciting to see it’s stoked a conversation online of important issues like body image.”
He added, “Hopefully it gives women an opportunity to do something they don’t do enough — to remind themselves that they’re beautiful.” No retouching necessary.
— Claudine Zap (@zapkidd)
