MP’s Bill wants altered photos to carry a label

ADVERTISERS TO COMPLY, IF LAW CHANGES

MP Dr Luke Evans has introduced his Body Image Bill in Parliament, calling for images which feature digitally altered body proportions to be labelled in advertising.

The Bosworth MP, who is also a GP, said the Bill is designed to help tackle the effects of unhealthy and unrealistic depictions of the way we look, which drive a range of harmful consequences on body confidence, and physical and mental health.

If the Bill makes it to the statute book, advertisers who digitally alter body proportions for use in paid promotions would be required to label them with a disclaimer, on digital and printed advertisements.

This disclaimer would be akin to the P symbol for product placement seen on commercial television in the UK.

The Advertising Standards Authority would develop specific guidelines on how the disclaimer would look, where it would be placed, what qualifies as edited and what is a commercial purpose.

Dr Evans said last year, the Women and Equalities Committee found 61 per cent of adults and 66 per cent of children felt negative, or very negative, about their body image “most of the time”.

There are 1.25 million people with an eating disorder in the UK, and 1 million people using image enhancing drugs such as steroids.

Parliament’s Health and Social Care Committee, of which Dr Evans is a member of, has said it will examine body image in coming months.

Dr Evans said: “The new year is often a period when there is increased pressure on body image, exercise and dieting, so I couldn’t think of a better time to reintroduce my Body Image Bill into Parliament.

“In my role as a GP before becoming an MP, I saw first-hand how unrealistic adverts can have a real, tangible and dangerous impact on eating disorders and body confidence issues.

“In instances where an image has been edited for commercial purposes, or where somebody has edited an image they are being paid to post, it is absolutely right the image should carry a disclaimer.

“These edited body images do not represent reality and are helping to perpetuate a warped sense of reality, with real consequences for people suffering with body confidence issues.

“My hope is that we, as consumers and social media users, never actually see this disclaimer, as advertisers, broadcasters and publishers no longer feel the need to fundamentally alter proportions or body shapes.

“If they still feel it necessary to edit commercial images to feature unrealistic body types, this Bill helps to increase honesty and transparency.”

He said similar legislation already exists in France, where any commercial image that has been enhanced must feature a label of “edited photograph”, or companies face a fine.

Norway has introduced similar legislation most recently. Images agency Getty has banned retouched images from its commercial category.

WOULD HAVE