Prohibition of retouching in Oslo can be ineffective

Since 2018, advertisements that appear on advertising posters and in public transport in Oslo must not “give a false picture of the models appearance” or contribute to increased body pressure.

- We know that many young people, but also the elderly, suffer from mental ill-health due to body pressure, which is mediated through advertising, for example, says Sindre Buchanan, municipal secretary in Oslo.

According to him, the municipality's new advertising contracts have had an effect and campaigns that have not followed the rules have been denied. But there is no guarantee that all advertising seen in Oslo is free from retouching.

At the Consumer Research Institute Sifo in Oslo, several studies have been conducted on young people's relationship with advertising. The latest shows that Norwegian youth themselves feel that advertising with traditional gender roles directed at them contributes to body pressure. The study has examined ads in social media.

- The young people clearly and clearly say that they are affected, especially since they perceive advertising as a kind of guidelines for how they should look. They are demanding more diversity among models and wish for a clear marking of retouched advertising in social media, says Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes, co-author of the study.

She and her colleagues do not believe that the ban in Oslo makes young people less body conscious, because it is in social media that they meet advertising to the greatest extent.

- When it comes to banning retouched advertising outdoors, young people say they don't see it because they look down at their mobile. And when you talk about banning it on the mobile, it applies to the Norwegian players, but it does not catch everyone else, says Helene Maria Fiane Teigen, co-author.

Many who SVT speaks to in the Norwegian fashion industry think that Norwegian politicians have misunderstood what retouching is about, and believe that the shape of bodies rarely changes.

- People are more retouched on social media than models are. Models are above average beautiful people - “close to perfect” appearance and body, so we choose them for campaigns. Then there will be small adjustments with retouching, says Amar Faiz, founder of model agency Idol looks.

- It is not necessarily that we make the legs longer or narrower. It's the most clothes we fix. Or maybe the angle is weird so we have to retouch a little to make the proportions look good. But to retouch for someone to become more beautiful - it doesn't happen, he says.

Amar Faiz describes that he and others in the fashion industry had some concerns when the ban was introduced, but he has not noticed any change in work or demand for models.

- I do not think that the requirements for models will be increased - but if you have a little unclean skin, a pimple or whatever - then you could be opted out. But I don't think it's going to go that far, he says.

In Trondheim, there is similar regulation of retouching as in Oslo, and the Storting has voted on a proposal for a national labeling of all retouched Norwegian advertising - including digital. Now a law change is waiting to make such a ban possible. But neither would it affect foreign advertising.

- Young people today live in a global marketplace. Retouching bans are a step in the right direction - body pressure is a major problem and has been debated for a long time in Norway, young people think a lot about it. A ban can serve as a point of view, and say that retouching is not good. But if it works in practice we do not know, says Kamilla Knutsen Steines.