Imagine you are strolling along the aisles of a convenience store, passing through stocked shelves of make-up products in search for your favorite beauty magazine. And there it is, the fresh and glossy cover is displayed on the “Just In” stand. Your eyes glance to see a well-known celebrity grace the front of the monthly edition of a top beauty magazine. She is just gorgeous. You swoon over her flawless fair skin, almond shaped crystal blue eyes, full and silky hair, and of course her thin physique. But while admiring this goddess-like model, you sulk wondering, “Why can’t I look like that?” You cry pushing the magazine from your grasp.

But there is a reason why an average teenager’s appearance does not resemble these celebrity queens. Advertisers and magazine companies use a tactic that gives an extra touch to the beauty of these women. It is airbrushing.

Airbrushing is not something new in the world of advertising, it has been used for years. And it has never been kept a secret from the public. Though there is obvious anger and frustration towards airbrushing models, it has become a guilty pleasure for teens to examine these models, to aspire to look like them. This method has turned into a dangerous gateway for teens to developing eating disorders and mental distortions.

So what is the big deal, anyway? A little touching up here and there is only used to make the pictures look better, right? Well, not exactly. This “touch up” method does more than just cover up some blemishes or tuck in hair strands. Physically, airbrushing is used to filter, size, and adjust more than what one would expect. An anonymous photographer had revealed to Cosmopolitan what the photo editing process is like in fashion advertisements. He explains to this elite beauty magazine, “I remove the veins and freckles and moles and bags under the eyes all the time. We often remove body hair, subdue wrinkles, whiten teeth, pop the eyes. We also smooth kneecaps and veins in the hands.” Besides distorting facial features, photographers will also elongate legs, thin arms and legs and narrow hips to give models the “perfect figure”. (Cosmopolitan Magazine). If photographers admit to moving touch-ups to extreme measures, teenagers should reconsider how realistic the photos in magazines truly are.

Young girls flip the pages of magazines, peering at the images of beautiful yet emaciated young women. With the influence from the media, they are tricked into believing these bodies are realistic. According to a Unilever study, three out of four girls feel guilty or shameful after spending three minutes with a fashion magazine. (SF Gate Beta). One of the extreme effects of wanting an unhealthy thin physique is girls can begin to develop eating disorders in order to push themselves to gain the unrealistic bodies. Therapists and counselors see many girls who have anxiety and depression linked with an eating disorder because they are striving for a body type that is impossible to achieve.

Mentally, these adjustments take a toll on not only the young women flipping through a magazine, but also the models who are having their photos edited right before their eyes. Meet twenty-three year old Georgina Wilkin who is a former model and just one of the many who developed an eating disorder because of the extreme demands from the fashion and beauty business. After working for many years in a modeling agency, it became too hard to bear watching each of her flaws being corrected with a single click of a mouse. Watching photographers “fix” her pictures, taunted her to begin to treat her body improperly by starving herself to look thinner for her next shoot. “I’ve had a few times where I have worked for a magazine and the magazine comes out and I hardly recognize myself. My legs have been skimmed off, my pores have been eliminated, my nose has been straightened.” Wilkins, former model, describes to BBC News. Georgina Wilkins is just one of the many models young girls aspire to look like when they see her pictures in advertisements. However if the goal in advertisement is to positively display the product and company with a spokesperson who embodies self-confidence, then Georgina has not become the right role model for the young viewers if she is insecure about her own body. Models who are un-confident about themselves while showing an airbrushed figure does not help themselves or the young girls who look up to them.

Airbrushing will never dissolve into the background, as it will continuously gain publicity. Celebrities like Kate Winslet and Kelly Clarkson gained plenty of attention, when they argued that their pictures on the covers of prestige magazines have been airbrushed to slim their curvy figures. Various eating disorder charities and foundations are calling for a ban on airbrushing that changes the shape of the body. But besides all efforts to eliminate airbrushing, what we do not realize is that the method of using airbrushing has not been proven to decrease sales of a product or company. So, will airbrushing ever stop? Let’s face it, it is impossible to restrict every company from releasing pictures of airbrushed models. There is such a black and white contrast with how models and celebrities can be perceived by the public. Celebrities and models are meant to share the positivity of the product or company. It becomes completely distracting if an emaciated woman is modeling this summer’s new bathing suits on a billboard, commercial, or in a page of Seventeen magazine. What kind of message is this sending? Advertisers and photographers need to share an alternate message that displays their product is meant for any size or shape.