Target’s new swimsuit ad campaign goes “Photoshop-free” (or at least, liquify-free)

Photoshop has received a bit of a backlash over the last few years about its use in advertising.But, it’s not really Adobe’s fault. Photoshop is just a tool. It’s like blaming Ford because you took a wrong turn down a one way street. But, the criticism has made a lot of companies sit up and think. Their average customer doesn’t really look much like the people used in their advertising campaigns. In fact, even the people used in their advertising campaigns don’t look like themselves in the final result a lot of the time.

More and more organisations have started to go “Photoshop free” for their advertising. And Target have now jumped on the trend, to great effect. To promote their new spring swimwear line, the campaign features women of all shapes and sizes, completely unretouched.

The series of ads feature a skateboarder (Lizzie Armanto), dancer (Megan Batoon), model (Kamie Crawford) and body activist (Denise Bidot). They wear various swimsuits from Target’s range, and all look pretty fantastic.

Target shows women of all shapes, sizes and colors looking beautiful and confident in themselves and their swimsuits and that resonates with women everywhere.

Confidence is contagious!

– Kamie Crawford

You’re bearing the most amount of skin in public when you’re in a swimsuit, so it’s important that it helps you feel confident so you can be completely yourself and enjoy every part of summer without the burden of insecurities.

– Megan Batoon

As somebody whose human subjects are primarily female, I think campaigns like this are fantastic. And I hope there’s more of them.

There’s so many amazing people out there, male and female, with confidence issues over the way they think they look. As photographers, it’s our job to show them that they really have nothing to worry about. And it can be done without the use of the liquify tool and heavy retouching.

[Target via Today]