The angles of advertising

We all know that advertisers lie to us, right?  Tricks abound to sell products.  Teeth look whiter with red lips, so the before is pink and the after red.  Facing the camera at an angle takes pounds away.  Black and dark colors thin you out.  Vertical stripes make you taller, leaner, whereas horizontal accentuate the girth.  Cut off the face, and the viewer identifies more with the individual in the picture (yet without a head, we lose interest in the product - hence, partial faces everywhere).

Usually, if you know what to look out for, like product placement in ads and movies, you can keep a leg up on them.  (Doesn't snickers cake sound good?)  Add to this growing pile of ways to lure the general public in, the art of Photoshop.  An extra few pounds?  We can stick that in right here.  Remove an inch off a leg?  Easy!  Want to remove a mole?  Done!  Cellulite?  Gone!  We've all seen, or at least heard, about photoshopping gone wrong...

However, sometimes advertisers just get lazy.  Take a look at what I found with my paper today... by all looks and appearances, a typical add for this revolutionary new product that will make you look 50 pounds thinner.  (Okay, 10...but 50 sounds better.)

Now, typically, I'd assume that there's photoshop and angles and optical illusions - which there are.  See how she's pulling her shirt down in the after picture?  The straight lines make her seem thin.  The before picture is slouching and sticking out her stomach?  The horizontal stripes appear to move outward around her midsection, creating that extra oomph we consumers need.

Notice anything else?

Take a good long look.  This isn't the same person!

Check out the jaw line....the hip/leg area...the protruding collar bones on the after girl.  The hair probably isn't even the same length and that's why it's tucked behind...apparently her boobs lost some luster as well, as they shrank in size but gained perkiness.

Okay, okay, I could give it the benefit of the doubt - she must have just gotten lipo (and a boob job) with the tummy tuck system.  It sucks the fat out of your whole body!  Yup, it's all the rage.  That is why you should buy the Tummylicious.

(Did they really think we wouldn't notice?  Too lazy to photoshop?)