These days, the realm of social media is buzzing about one thing: Norway says no to retouched photos, deemed responsible for beauty standards that severely test the self-esteem and health of young boys and girls.
The Scandinavian parliament wants to protect new generations so that they accept themselves as they are without being influenced by the artificial faces and bodies that invade the world of the web. For this reason, from the summer of 2022, the Norwegian law prohibits the publication of any image or advertising message with filters or retouching that alters its truthfulness and transparency.
The law is clear: retouched photos cannot be published without explicitly stating it. In fact, the disclosure of images altered by filters, Photoshop, or anything else is not prohibited, but if we really cannot abandon the “filter” effect, then we must express it clearly.
How? With a mandatory logo.
Only if equipped with the so-called “labeling,” the labeling that confesses the optical trick, is the image in compliance and can therefore be disseminated on the web and social media without any danger of sanctions from the Norwegian government. If, on the contrary, the distortion of the posted image is not expressed, the responsible party is directly accountable to the authorities, facing substantial penalties and, in serious cases, imprisonment.
The purpose of the legislation is to bring reality to light and put aside the fiction that has characterized the images we find on social media, advertising campaigns, and promotional messages for too long. Unfortunately, the Ministry itself recognizes the difficulty in applying a law like this; in fact, it is not always easy to understand when a photo is retouched, and above all, it is not clear whether the rule prohibits or not the adjustments of lighting, saturation, and contrast of photographs. These effects, seemingly harmless, can in fact create even significant improvements in skin and body.
The #NoDigitalDistortion movement
An interesting campaign on the topic is the one carried out by Dove, one of the best-known brands in personal care.
“Reverse Selfie”: this is the name of the campaign that focuses on the artificial construction of selfies and the art of photo editing, a ritual that can be harmful to younger boys and girls.
The Unilever brand established the “Self-Esteem Project” a few years ago to communicate a different model of the ideal of beauty, promoting and communicating body positivity.
One might think of a mass revolt, an imminent protest by lovers of filters and distorted images. In reality, the realm of celebrities firmly approves the Norwegian law, which for now only concerns advertisements, promotional photos, and images disseminated by influencers and celebrities for profit.
The reaction of influencers leaves everyone speechless. In fact, they not only side with the Scandinavian law but also ask that checks be carried out on all content in general and not just on those that are popular on the web and have millions of likes.
Norway is therefore the first nation to take such an important step, and it is probably the push needed to involve the rest of the world in doing the same, but in reality, other countries have already expressed their views on the matter. In February 2021, in fact, Great Britain supported the #filterdrop campaign launched by the make-up artist, curvy model, and beauty activist Sasha Pallari, the first among influencers to take a step towards “no filter.”
Already in 2019, the English model began to publish unretouched photos showing her natural appearance, and in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, she launched the hashtag #filterdrop, posting a video of herself without filters in which she invited influencers and followers to do the same. With this message, she tries to involve as many women as possible in not depending on filters and asks for the introduction of an obligation for cosmetic brands and celebrities to communicate when they use a filter in the promotion of a product. Since then, influencers and celebrities in the United Kingdom have been obliged to declare when filters or alterations of images are used to promote cosmetics and skincare, under penalty of exclusion from social media.
We have already addressed the importance of the role of Influencer Marketing in a previous article, where the techniques and functions of this figure, so impactful for the world of social media, are explained.
They, in fact, choose to share their daily lives with an audience that listens to them and is influenced by what they propose. For this reason, it is essential to manage this new model of Human to Human communication, where we no longer have the company promoting the campaign or the product, but there are people talking to other people.
No to photo editing: the position of Italian Influencers
What does Italy think of all this? It is certainly too early to talk about laws, but some have already spoken in favor of legislative intervention, especially to protect the youngest.
Italian influencers such as Giulia De Lellis, Aurora Ramazzotti, and Matilda De Angelis express their concern about how boys and girls use filters and retouching of their photographs, hiding behind real masks in search of perfection. For this reason, Italian icons and celebrities show their flaws such as acne, stretch marks, and cellulite on social media, simply revealing themselves: real and natural women who owe their success not only to their physical appearance but also and above all to their talent.
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