The advertisement chosen is a movie poster for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The advertisement has come under a lot of scrutiny for the obvious photoshopping it has undergone. The ad depicts Scarlet Johansson, clad in her usual Black Widow garb, carrying pistols, and looking as though she’s just taking down a fleet of enemy forces all by herself. The brilliant skyline behind her is obviously manipulated but it is her that attracts the most attention. Her skin is flawless. Her hair is a strangely brilliant color of red, or maybe orange. The color of her eyes is almost inhuman, as is the way that they sparkle and shine. Her neck is long and elegant, almost too long. So are her arms. They are almost so long they begin to look unnatural when compared to the rest of her naturally short frame. The same could be said about her torso, which also looks like is has been elongated. Her waist looks pinched and while her thighs look thick, they are also, somehow, small. Predictably, Johansson’s breasts are unnaturally perky, full, and round.
At first glance the poster only appears to be a flashy advertisement but if one takes a closer look it is obvious that many manipulations on Johansson’s body have taken place. It is even more apparent when the poster is compared to untouched photos of the actress’s body. Greg Gilman, author for The Wrap, sought out photoshop experts, asking them to weigh in on the speculation . He found the accusations to be supported by photoshop experts. When experienced photographers compared Johansson’s body to previous photographs of herself as well as photographs of untouched humans, they found many mistakes in her initial appearance. Her skin was too luminous, even for the sun to be setting behind her. Her neck was unnaturally long; an extension like that would require surgery. Comparing the torso in the poster to the torso on Johansson’s untouched body showed that 2, perhaps even 3 inches had been added. Unless the actress had been starving herself, almost every inch of her body has also been thinned. Her breasts no longer looked supple, or even real. Instead they seemed fake and ornamental. Experts agreed the suspected fallacies were correct .
The poster was obviously part of a marketing scheme to advertise Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But Johansson is already an attractive woman, so why do marketing departments feel the need to push her appearance to the furthest concepts of what humans now consider “attractive?” According to a study published in British Journal of Social Psychology, a certain amount of photoshopping provides incentive to the masses (2004). We have created a society where the typical standard of beauty is only achieved through unhealthy methods or inside a computer; when these standards of beauty are used for marketing, typically the public wants to see more of them. This renders photoshopping an effective tool. However, studies showed that when photoshopping is taken to noticeable proportions, its effectiveness is lost (2014). The post is almost comical; “Johansson looks like a praying mantis,” remarked one photographer . When this happens, the public realizes how unrealistic these standards are and rejects this idea of beauty, rendering the advertisement useless. Because the photoshopping techniques used on Johansson’s poster were so over the top, the advertisement was not effective.
References
Dittmar, H., & Howard, S. (2004). Professional hazards? The impact of models' body size on advertising effectiveness and women's body-focused anxiety in professions that do and do not emphasize the cultural ideal of thinness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 477-497.
Gilman, G. (2014, January 30). Scarlett Johansson's ‘Captain America 2' Waistline Sparks Cries of Photoshop Foul. Retrieved from The Wrap: http://www.thewrap.com/scarlett-johansson-captain-america-2-photoshop-sparks-backlash
