It's a great idea. Photoshopping out blemishes or cellulite can be seen as an artistic endeavor, I guess, but the point is not to make it illegal but to carry a sign telling you how it was done. I mean, it's not so different from knowing the Mona Lisa was done with oil on canvas.

The effects this imagery is having is impossible to quantify but, for my money, I've read, seen & heard enough anecdotal evidence to make me a supporter.

I think it's a good idea to consider. A majority of young girls aspire to be these images we see in magazines. Many young girls don't know they're altered. In such a diluted society obsessed with celebrity, I think it will help distinguish fantasy from reality.

Clearly photoshopping has gone way too far in many ad cases where for example women look totally unnaturally skinny. But people are nowadays very well aware about that photos are more or less manipulated. The warning labels feel just as stupid or at least unnecessary as the ones I've seen in catalogs saying "The accessory not included". "Batteries not included" is in order when you by some kind of gadget, I guess. But if the ad is selling you a skirt or a coat you don't think getting the bag or the shoes as well, do you. We’re not that stupid. And there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in letting to do something and then warning about it.

And what comes to young girls I think that kids are not really that dump. They just have to be taught at home that what you see or hear is not always the whole truth or truth at all. It doesn't relate only to ads. We get so much information via different media that it is important to learn to use your own judgment. Where kids will learn it if not at home?

Actually, I think this law is a very good idea and not only for France. This way we would know which picture was retouched and which was not. This would be a considerable help in teaching kids that not every picture they see is the real thing. However, this law only concerns pictures in advertising. In other words pictures of celebs and politicians won't be labeled if retouched...

Uh who was jumping up & down on their bed and fell off & took a good whack to the head? Ooook so I had my whole soapbox on image. However growing up I knew I'd never look like those women but I (me, myself) made the decision not to look like a stick & starve myself or worse. Wow, how sad & stupid.

A law about notifying an image has been altered, really. A total waste of time unless it employs people. A law like this doesn't even begin to address what's really "wrong" with our values and aspirations. If we as a society, community, friends, families, parents etc, cannot exist and educate on a level of acceptance and variety, and that IT'S JUST A PICTURE trying to sell something and it bears no meaning to our self esteem and value as beautiful just the way we are...that we need some law telling us how stupid we are, we're even more doomed that I thought.

I too, used to look in mags as a teen and wished with all my heart, I could look as good as madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Or demi Moore (for examples). What teenage/young girl didn NOT do this? However, I was fortunately raised in a home, where I was taught, I am PERFECT just the WAY I am. Told everyday, how much I was loved. And taught to see the beauty IN ALL things. I never once compared myself to them saying, I am inadequate, etc.

I am happy with ME. and that's ALL that matters. :)

Of course, I disagree that their needs to be a warning. I feel it is infringing on artistic expression and ingenuity/creativity. This si a process that has been done, for so long. we are not stupid, and do not need to be told or have someone else do the thinking for us. We can draw our own conclusions just fine.

I think the problem is a lack of tolerance. people simply are not taught to appreciate things, as they are.

Alicia, you've hit the nail on the head. You never had those insecurities because, according to you, you were assured on a daily basis that being you was perfect. Now, do you think that's how the majority of kids are raised? Because if you do, you're absolutely wrong.

It's not a matter of stupidity. Not all values a person needs to learn are taught at home, unfortunately, and not being able to differentiate between an image that's been photoshopped and one that hasn't doesn't make you dumb (or dump as Satu Rosenlund called it).

Laws are made to protect everyone, and in this case, kids that grow up in perfectly loving environments might not necessarily need this kind of extra regulation, but maybe kids that grow up without those same daily reassurances might benefit from this otherwise innocuous law.

Oh and if we're discussing creative integrity, telling people it's been photoshopped is like saying "I used a camera to take this picture." Photoshop is a standard tool - it's not a revealing industry secret.