Lately, a lot of magazines have been under fire for photoshopping their models.
However, that hasn't stopped some publications from continuing to retouch their images.
Vogue Brazil is the latest photoshop offender that's feeling the heat after posting a series of photos on social media featuring actors who were digitally altered to look like they have physical disabilities.
Cléo Pires and Paulo Vilhena are the able-bodied actors who appeared in the controversial Vogue photos. They're both ambassadors for the Brazilian Paralympic Committee.
They were photoshopped to look like two Brazilian athletes: sitting volleyball player Renato Leite, and Paralympic table tennis player Bruninha Alexandre.
The fact that Vogue edited prosthetic limbs onto the actors has left a lot of people outraged.
The images were part of a campaign promoting the Rio 2016 Paralympics and appeared on Vogue Brazil's Instagram account, along with the hashtag that translates to "We are all Paralympians."
However, many people feel this insensitive campaign diminishes the recognition Paralympic athletes rightfully deserve.
Even though there are models with those very disabilities @vogue could've featured, they've modeled together too. pic.twitter.com/q7jTCJysTZ — Beth Elderkin (@BethElderkin) August 24, 2016
Richard Lane, who works for Scope, a charity organization that works to bring equal opportunity for people with disabilities, told Huffington Post UK,
It's hard to understand why Vogue Brazil felt the need to use models who aren't disabled in a Paralympic photoshoot. The magazine has missed the perfect opportunity to celebrate Brazil's talented Paralympians as sporting equals. It's so rare to see positive and powerful representations of disabled people in the media. The Paralympics is a time to challenge negative attitudes to disability. There are one billion disabled people in the world. Let's see disabled people's lives properly reflected, not imitated.
Bad taste Vogue Brazil campaign features able-bodied actors photoshopped as amputees https://t.co/jb6g1Z3voj — Lara O'Reilly (@larakiara) August 25, 2016
Clayton Carneiro, Vogue Brazil's art director, responded to the campaign's critics, stating that Pires was the one who came up with the concept for the shoot and that both Paralympians were fine with the idea.
In an interview with Telegraph, Carneiro said, "We knew it would be a punch in the gut, but we were there for a good cause."
Despite Vogue's golden intentions, it's pretty clear that this campaign isn't worthy of a medal.
Citations: What Was Vogue Brazil Thinking With This Paralympic-Themed Shoot? (Refinery29)
