Several parents have taken issue with the current trend of “retouching” school photos.
When Jennifer Greene, a Maryland mother, opened her 12-year-old daughter's package of school photos from the photography company Lifetouch, she discovered that the company was asking parents to pay an additional $12 for portrait “retouching” services afterward. to go ahead and “retouch” your photos without your permission.
The “touch-up” – which includes teeth whitening, evening skin tone and removing blemishes – goes against what Greene was trying to instill in her daughter: not to feel pressure to look perfect.
“I completely disagree with [retouching a child’s school picture]because it teaches children that they should look perfect all the time and that they can change. [a perceived flaw] with the click of a mouse,” he told the New York Post.
Outraged by her daughter, Greene took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to criticize the company.
“Am I going to need someone to explain to me why @Lifetouch offers PHOTO RETOUCHING for CHILDREN'S school photos?!” she aware last month. “What the hell?!”
When asked about Greene's post, Lifetouch said in a statement to The charge: “Our goal is always to authentically capture each child we photograph. Photo retouching is a completely optional service that clients choose to add to photography packages. “Most, if not all, school photography companies offer this service and it is expected to be an available option for schools.”
But it's not just Greene who has had problems with “tinkering” practices. Florida-based mom and blogger Kristin Loerns had requested “basic retouching” of her son's photos, but when she received them in the mail, she was surprised to discover that the company had removed her freckles instead of just removing them. the imperfections.
“I gave permission for a 'basic touch-up', which would be removing blemishes, and instead they removed all the freckles,” the 36-year-old said. The charge. After Loerns complained to Lifetouch about the problem, the company quickly fixed the problem by sending him re-edited photos that included his son's freckles.
Lifetouch's “retouching” process goes beyond imperfections: One mother took to TikTok to claim the company deleted her three-year-old son's hearing aids from his school photo without his consent. The video has since garnered 2.2 million views on the platform.
“These are my son's hearing aids. They help him hear, they are part of who he is and he likes them,” Rose said on her TikTok account, @TheseDeafKidsRock. “He's sending Le the message that part of who he is, his hearing loss, is something he should be ashamed of.”
With the popularization of “retouched” photographs on social media, concerns about filters and correction options are not only shared by parents, but also by researchers. The data suggests that enhanced photos and filters are doing more harm than good to young, impressionable minds, especially girls like Greene's daughter. By age 13, 80 percent of girls downloaded a filter or used an app to alter their appearance in photos, according to data from the Dove Self-Esteem Project.
The independent has contacted Lifetouch for comment.
