Parents are furious over an airbrushing ‘retouch’ service offered on school picture day to children as young as FIVE
- A retouch service to edit the school photos of children has shocked parents
- Jennifer Greene couldn’t believe the service was being offered for $12
- It includes skin-tone evening, teeth whitening and blemish removal
- Kristin Loerns also noticed her son’s freckles had been removed from the images
Parents are furious after being offered a digital retouch service to edit school photos taken of their children.
Jennifer Greene, from Maryland, US, was stunned after discovering the service was being offered to parents of young students in kindergarten.
The Lifetouch company offered to ‘retouch’ the images of the children for an additional $12 and the service includes skin-tone evening, teeth whitening and blemish removal.
The service acts in a similar way to social media filters that change the way the face looks by smoothing out the skin and removing imperfections.
Parents are furious after a digital retouch service offered to edit the photos of children on school photo day. The outrage follows after Kristin Loerns noticed her son’s freckles had been removed from the school photos (pictured right)
‘I was shocked,’ Ms Greene told The New York Post.
‘I completely disagree with [retouching a child’s school picture], because it’s teaching kids that they need to look perfect all the time and that they can change [a perceived flaw] with the click of a mouse.’
The 43-year-old also took to Twitter to share her shock with others.
‘I’m going to need someone to explain to me why @Lifetouch offers PHOTO RETOUCH for KIDS school pics?! What the hell?!’ she tweeted late last month.
Ms Greene wanted to get photos taken of her 12-year-old daughter Madeline, but was worried about the effect that the services could have on her.
In a statement to The New York Post the business said: ‘Our goal is always to authentically capture each child we photograph. Photo retouch is an entirely opt-in service that customers choose to add on to photo packages. Most, if not all, school photography companies offer this service and it’s an expectation as an available option for schools.’
While the service has received backlash from parents, retouching is a service offered by most professional photographers.
The service acts in a similar way to social media filters that change the way the face looks by smoothing out the skin and removing imperfections (stock image)
The outrage follows after Kristin Loerns noticed her son’s freckles had been removed from the school photos.
Ms Loerns told Daily Mail Australia she didn’t give permission for the company to remove all of her son’s freckles.
‘The retouching was added automatically as part of the larger photo packages,’ she said.
Kristin also shared before and after images of her son Kieran on Twitter alongside the caption: ‘Lifetouch can I have his freckles back please? #editingfail’
‘Don’t change things that are actually a part of a child’s face,’ she added.
After complaining to Lifetouch the company redid Ms Loern’s child’s photo with the freckles intact.
Advertisement