STOP WITH THE DOCTORED PHOTOGRAPHS & AI IMAGES!

This week, my team and have had to deal with photographs and AI images of people which are not real.

Well the people are real but the images are not. There has been, for many years, the ability to ‘change’ or ‘amend’ professional images to remove a blemish on someone’s cheek, get rid of that pesky light switch in the back of a shot. Nothing wrong with that. A minor tweak doesn’t make you look vastly different and a background tweak will not be noticed.

However we’re now seeing professional images – and non-professional ones – being doctored to change someone to the extent that the image becomes a total lie. What’s the point of that? When someone meets you virtually or in real life your lie will be obvious…

Alongside the readily available use of AI tools to create cartoon or ‘fun’ self images, this is beginning to stand out even more. You have to consider the ‘intent’ of such images and how others may respond to them – and does that matter to you?

I had some original cartoon images of me created some years ago to accompany my freely available content, mostly around our podcast and YT channel. When I had the original images created by @Morgan Gleave he’d kindly made me look very slim with blonde hair. I looked fabulous. Yet someone that didn’t sit right with me. I did look like that when I was 25 but at the time I was in my 50s and I realised it wasn’t in the least authentic to Fiona right now. I asked for changes to better match Fiona in her 50s. I wanted to be as authentic as possible in a ‘cartoon’ scenario.

Many many people are now getting sick of images which create a persona of someone that’s too far removed from reality. They don’t think it’s fun, many think it’s more about insecurity, and frankly telling lies. I’ve seen this myself in the social media community groups I run which have a total membership of close to 40,000.

I see so many events, personal images which all look the same, have the same feel, look, font and tone that I literally ignore them. I scroll on by because I’ve seen the same thing ten times this week. THAT’S THE IMPACT. I can’t be bothered to read it because my instant, impulsive reaction is that it’s fake, and inauthentic.

LET ME BE REALLY CLEAR – ALL CREDIBLE PR & MARKETING EXPERTS TALK TODAY ABOUT BEING ‘REAL’ AND ‘AUTHENTIC’. None of this meets that standard and it erodes authenticity a post or a picture at a time.

This matters generally in the world of business – and particularly with media outreach – because when someone turns up in person – they don’t actually look like their image at all.

The reality may be that they are actually up to 20 years older, or frankly, their body shape may be totally different ie. they are not as slim in real life as their image. This applies to both men and women. I’ve had two male clients in the past who have had lovely professional images taken and they refuse to use them until they’ve lost three stones. Flatly refused, even for PR. To my knowledge neither of them have ever lost that amount of weight. It’s not real.

And even if you did lose that amount of weight – you’d want new more timely images anyway wouldn’t you? We all would if we’d managed to do that?

Ever since I started in the media people have not liked certain images of themselves and I do get that. I detest having my own picture taken but professionally I understand it’s a necessary ‘evil’ in my world.

One of the reasons for this is that we can – in our minds – see ourselves or wish ourselves to look different from how we actually do look. In my mind, I’m still a size 12 with short blond hair, no saggy chin….that is how I see myself. However in reality, now, that’s not me. At some point we have to accept ourselves as we are now and not as we ‘wish’ to be. And if we wish to be something different then we need to have the motivation and drive to do something about it. Or we accept our authentic selves as we are now.

I’ve had clients who refuse to have images taken – or have them taken and the images are lovely but they won’t use them. This is both men and women who say ‘I’m too fat’ or ‘I look too old’ and the best photographers will make subtle changes yet they won’t actually doctor an image to make someone look totally different.

While this may make the person in the image feel better about themselves – in business, we have to consider the impact on others. When and if they meet that individual in person, there is an inevitable degree of deception, even pantomime about the fact that in reality that person looks different. Judgments are made instantly and perhaps shared with others over time.

I’ve seen images of people I know and respect this week, making them look at least three stone lighter than they are in real life; making them look at least 15 years younger than they are; changing the shape of their face and their mouth to the point of utter absurdity.

How do you say to someone you respect professionally – ‘your mouth looks really weird in that image?’ or ‘you don’t actually look like that in real life’. Do you say it at all?

Please don’t fall into this trap. AI and software can achieve many things, ensure for you it doesn’t achieve a lie. You may not be able to see the impact this has but it will have an impact and it’s not positive PR…