MP demands airbrushing in children's advertising is banned

Published on Monday 3 August 2009 22:04

AIRBRUSHING models to make them appear more "beautiful" in advertisements aimed at children should be banned, an MP said yesterday.

Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson said the practice of altering pictures can harm young people's health and self esteem.

The East Dunbartonshire MP said: "We need to achieve a change in the media and in the way women are pressurised to conform to a narrow image of beauty. It's a lofty ambition but it's important to make a start."

The proposal, appearing in a review of women's policies, will be discussed at the Lib Dem conference in September.

If the proposal became law, airbrushing adverts aimed at under-16s would be banned.

The Advertising Standards Authority said only a small number of complaints raised the issue, which would be "difficult" to police.

Ms Swinson said the consequences of altering such images "can be very damaging".

She said: "We have the extreme end of eating disorders but there are also confidence issues – from feeling a bit upset to getting ill.

"Girls are increasingly concerned about their image – you even see reports of ten-year-old girls on diets.

"It's part of our culture now but it's a very damaging culture. It's not even as though these airbrushed images are attainable – it's not how they look."

The Advertising Standards Authority said it only intervenes if advertisements are misleading. A spokeswoman said: "We received more than 26,000 complaints last year and could probably count on one hand the ones that had anything to do with airbrushing,"

"General enhancement of images does go on – whether it's better lighting, fake steam added to hot food – but the majority of people are aware of it.

"If it comes to being misleading, like wrinkles being removed from an advert on wrinkle cream, then we could intervene."