PhotoChop
Fast-food restaurants promote indigestion in more than one way. Customarily, visual references used to advertise the menu ?that is, photographs? are more than often fake. Most of the products showcased as value meals were never photographed as a group, but instead "stitched" from different sources. Not only clients save in buying a soda, sandwich and fries. Owners also play cheap by resorting to digital compositions that ultimately deceive the public. To add to the debate about the nutritional attributes of fast food, we can certify it can also endanger visual health.
Almost insistently, independent images of food and drinks are brought together by a digital click and then copied into a background. As if no one noticed, for example, cookies and muffins are often photographed once, then repeated and flipped on top of each other to create the illusion of plurality. These examples can go unnoticed to the untrained: the inexperienced lack command of shadows, contrast levels and perspective angles that are a basic requisite of photography, but also of Photoshop.
However, a few clues suffice to grasp the situation. On your next visit to a fast food establishment, turn waiting in line into a research project. Look carefully at the french fries, as represented in several value meal pictures. You will notice an identical arrangement in all of them, while sandwich and burger simultaneously appear in a different perspective angle. If the different items had been photographed together ? as a true "combo" ? food would probably appear more real, maybe truly appetizing. But fast food friends are prone to supersize even their omissions.
In many instances, the cheese, lettuce, bread, and meat images we are presented with are the product of extreme manipulation. Do you like your food when it has been played with? At an advertising agency, I once witnessed a designer "clone" a small hamburger patty into a half-pound version. No wonder the food we get over the counter never looks like those in the pictures. With the money earned by fast food establishments, you would think their owners would go though the trouble and expense of hiring a fast food stylist and a photographer to tend properly to their unique needs and expectations.
In contrast, by being cheap, they add to the already artificial nature of the food they promote, simultaneously diminishing the role of the graphic designer. It is less expensive to pay for a graphic artist to make a change on the food, than actually pay for a photo shoot. Thanks to the capabilities of photo alteration software, photo "chopping" photographs has succeeded at further deceiving the public. In truth, money-making concerns are not to be blamed alone for, unfortunately, most people do not take a good look at what they are about to eat. Be it food, or publicity.
What reaction do you have to those who use your skills to deceive the public? Would you ever do it? What would you do if you were asked to do it?
I beleive that the skill of design is a gift to those who aquire it. It is something that not many people have, so it should not be taken for granted. In saying this, I beleive that it is a skill that should be used to its fullest potential in a way that benefits the public. Design as a whole is based on the public because without it, what we design cannot gain any kind of response, and therefore not thrive or fail. This is the basis of my argument. Being that design is so reliant on the public in its success, it should not be used to deceive them. Though art can be deceitful in its interpretation at times, the skills we acquire, for instance in graphic design, should never be used to "fool" the public into thinking a product or idea is better than it is, in order to make money. We owe it to the world to be as trustworthy with our skill as we can be, especially taking into consideration that most advertisers and companies lobby for their own cause and arent very trustworthy themselves. Designers as a whole need to keep a good name and not be looked upon as liars in the public eye. We also need to keep in mind "the golden rule","treat other as you would like to be treated." I know that I do not like being lied to or mislead, and as a designer I would never want to do that to others. I would never use my skill to deceive the public because I have a conscience and it would haunt me. To know the truth, and have displayed a lie or a skewed version of the truth is not in line with my morals. If I were asked to do this is a much more serious question. It is easy to say right now that I would say absolutely not and accept the consequences, but to actually do this is a different story. A few years ago I may have taken the job even though I thought it wrong because I was so set on being successful and ensure a good future for myself in my career. But since I have been in the design school I have learned alot about the designer's role in the world and society, and I have learned alot about myself. Being a designer is a lifestyle and is something that you have to put your heart, soul, and life into, and if my lifestyle was used for deceit, I would not be able to accept myself. I have very strong beleifs about morality and about honesty and I would not like to live in a way that would go against those beleifs. Design is important to me and so are my morals, and I beleive that if I am a good designer, my refusal to accept a project I dont beleive in will not set me back. Though, if it does I will take the consequences and move on. I would rather be a good designer with good morals, than a great designer who does not pay attention to them.
Posted by Jordan Trombly on November 18, 2008 at 08:57 PM EST #
My immediate reaction to deceiving the public with the use of graphical skills is negative. I personally do not like being deceived and I would not want to use my talents to promote something that I do not agree with. In no way possible, is it right to mislead the public into thinking they are going to purchase one thing, while in reality, they are actually purchasing something of much less value. Even though it is cheaper to reproduce and stretch an image to its maximum potential it is not truthful or reliable. When I go to a fast food restaurant to order a hamburger, I know that it is not going to be a perfect hamburger, but I at least expect it to look like the picture that they are advertising. When I get my burger and it looks nothing like the picture advertised, I call that false advertisement, which is extremely misleading. Deceiving the public is not a good thing, and I think that if more people knew about this fake creation of foods on the computer, that they would be less likely to trust the fast food places. I’m not saying that they would be less likely to eat there, because we all know that fast food places are all cheap-eats, but the public would probably be more skeptical of new food items that are released. For instance, if McDonalds released a new and improved quarter pounder with eight slices of bacon and double the cheese, the picture will probably make it seem mouthwateringly delicious, whereas in reality, it’s just another burger with more toppings. It will not look as decorated or as perfect as their advertisement will show and I think that’s a shame. It’s not fair to the people or for the company. The food company should want their food products to be represented correctly so that the people can trust them. I do not believe that I could ever deceive someone with my skills as a graphic designer because it is not morally right. If somebody asked me to do it, I would tell him or her that I could not because I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for the corruption and the misguidance of the general public. Like Jordan said, “the skill of design is a gift,” and it should not be misused. Instead of deceitfully manipulating things on the computer for a paycheck, I believe that designers should be putting their talents to better use in something that everyone can benefit from.
Posted by Jessica Tate on November 18, 2008 at 09:41 PM EST #
tierra
Posted by Tierra Thompson on November 24, 2008 at 01:34 AM EST #
Almost all of advertising is deception. This same observation can be stated for pictures of models in magazines and billboards, shiny and sleek cars, or even glossy video game graphics. If you’re a graphic designer trying to find work in advertising, it will be very difficult to do so without coming across this dilemma. Should you lie to thousands of people in order to be paid? More often then not, the answer will be yes. Of course it’s ethically wrong! Of course they “shouldn’t” be doing it. But one must also understand that it’s so easy to judge these people when not faced with the dilemma yourself. In reality, these graphic designers have bills to pay, a life to keep up with, and a desire for versatile solutions to modern living.
Posted by Carlos Torres-Cervantes on November 24, 2008 at 04:54 PM EST #