Drama with the Dove "Real Women" Ads

Recently, there has been somewhat of a dust-up over statements concerning the popular and critically acclaimed "Real Beauty" campaign for Dove. In an interview with the New Yorker, Pascal Dangin, a photo re-toucher who worked with photographer Annie Liebovitz on Dove's Pro-Age campaign, seemed to imply that there was digital retouching done for the "Real Women" campaign. His direct quote was, "[referring to the 'Real Women' Ads] Do you know how much retouching was on that...it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive."



Now, Dove, Liebovitz, and Dangin have issued a statement saying the comments were taken out of context and that Dangin's only role with the campaign was to remove dust and color correct the images. It seems to me, after reading their statements and reexamining the original quote, that Dove's position is truthful and that the photographs were not retouched. However, it was interesting to see the quick backlash with which people responded to the claims of digital manipulation. If it were true, it certainly would have hurt Dove's brand credibility and made for a very awkward situation.