Hey Ladies, It’s Time to Play ‘Try to Look Pretty Without Poisoning Yourself’

Environmental Defence - Look Pretty Without Killing YourselfEnvironmental Defence, the Canadian environmental action organization has launched a new campaign to create awareness and urge the Canadian government to ban the chemicals and toxins that are found in the personal care and beauty products of Canadian women (and no doubt men).

In the 60 second spot features Jackie, a working mom appearing as a contestant on the game show ‘Try to Look Pretty Without Poisoning Yourself’. She’s asked to choose to choose the cosmetic product that doesn’t contain toxins and cancer-causing chemicals. However the game show is rigged as Canadian cosmetic regulations don’t force companies to disclose the toxic ingredients in many of their products.

Ouch, boo and eww…

More information is available at justbeautiful.ca or you can take action now by signing the petition.

The campaign was created by Toronto creative agency Open and the spot was produced by Partner Films.

Is It Real or Is It Fotoshop by Adobé?

Fotoshop by AdobeThroughout the early 1990s I worked as a graphic designer at a Toronto studio. We had several accounts, but the two that kept me busiest were a popular makeup brand and a packaged meat company. You can draw your own obvious parallels between the two.

The main tasks involved making the models and meat look beautiful and delicious enough for you to open your wallet. The primary weapon in our arsenal was Adobe Photoshop, and we would use it to (as the video shows) make fuller lips, change eye color, make whiter teeth, remove blemishes or unsightly veins, change skin color or in extreme cased literally create a frankenimage form various photos in the session. If her elbow looked funny, we’d grab an arm from another photo and blend it in.

Northern California filmmaker Jesse Rosten was inspired to create the video after watching a beauty product infomercial. To his eye the before and after portraits of the model looked like they had been photoshopped.

It’s been nearly six years since Dove posted the infamous ‘Evolution‘ video, so the use of Photoshop in advertising shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Read more about my adventures with Photoshop retouching in Beauty is Pixel Deep on YummyMummyClub.