Apple Photoshopped a woman’s face to make her smile, and now nobody’s smiling
There were a ton of awesome moments at yesterday’s Apple Launch—and one not-so-awesome moment. This particular launch brought us things like the new iPhone 6S, the Apple Pencil, and a woman being Photoshopped to smile more. Really.
This particular instance happened during a demo of the iPad Pro using Adobe software. The male demonstrator took a headshot of a model and tweaked it ever-so-slightly so she wasn’t giving us a smolder, but instead a polite smile.
This should have raised a red flag long before demonstrators took to the stage. Telling women to smile is one of the oldest catcalls in the book, and it’s not about making women happy. Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh echoed this when she spoke to MSNBC earlier this year about her project, “Stop Telling Women to Smile.” She explained why comments like that are harmful, not helpful:
Needless to say, critics noted Apple’s misjudgment and immediately called out the tech giant. Gizmodo’s Christopher Phin called it “the worst moment” of the launch—noting that despite Apple’s socially-conscious reputation, organizers forgot “to interrogate their actions and their presumptions to make sure they’re not perpetuating damaging, demeaning or unfair practices.” Business Insider’s Biz Carson echoed that sentiment:
On Twitter, the criticism continued.
While there was still a lack of women at the conference, this moment was might slightly better by that fact that it was followed by user interface designer Irene Walsh showing us how this new product can have medical benefits, even when it comes to things like surgery. And I mean real, important surgery. Not just making a woman’s face look like it’s happy to see you *drops mic*.
(Image via Twitter)
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