AIBU to be worried about this? Guess campaign uses AI models

[Robin67]

Throughout time women have often been held (by society and themselves) to limited and often unachievable beauty standards. This can lead to issues with self esteem. The digital revolution and social media have made it worse. More diverse casting and reduced photo shopping made it a bit better. Now Guess have employed an AI company (run by two very talented, and ironically beautiful women) to design a model for their campaigns. The model is next level beautiful. What does this mean for real people? Very few women can actually look like that, and not for long; think over 25 will already lose something in comparison to her. I despair for young women in particular and honestly this could lead to so many further issues with self esteem and self worth. The article is on the bbc website today.

I will try to link it.

I think it's a complex issue. Why are girls so insecure about their looks and what can be done to mitigate that? Worrying about models is a sticking plaster for a much deeper issue.

If you're confident, have good self esteem and like yourself, you're less likely to take any notice of models.

I understand and agree. But it's still a little depressing to me. When I was younger Bridget Hall was the big name who was the polar opposite to me. I acknowledged that she was beautiful but also that I could not ever look like her. I don't look anything like Salma Hayek for the record. However we had similar colourings, both booby and also shorter. So it was nice to know that she was considered beautiful too. Even though I looked nothing like her. In the article, they have said that they also experimented with more diverse models, but there was no market for it, or something like that.

I am very specifically not jealous of Blake Lively, Eiza Gonzalez, Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner because "even they don't look like that". All 4 of these women looked dramatically different and normal before their surgeries. But if I was young and impressionable I feel sure that I would be under (self-applied) pressure to get work done, if these are the images projected everywhere.

The benefits of AI Model:

Don't have to pay the model royalties or deal with any allegations of unfair treatment, or the model behaving badly and damaging the brand.

Can identify what the widest market of buyers consider pleasing.

Can have different models for different regions.

Can ensure the model is a healthy weight.

Buyers will know this is an AI Generated image and not reality.

I like the pictures, must read the article now.

This is part of the problem. Why are girls focused on their looks to the exclusion of everything else? Why not aspire to be a writer, sports star, politician, activist, artist, singer, actor, scientist, musician? Why do girls compare themselves to other women's looks and judge themselves?

What does this mean for real people?

Real people will have to learn and accept that the models are AI and not in any way real.

It sounds overly simple, but there is really no other way around it.

In the same way they've had to learn that they won't necessarily be able to look like the human models either.

Many human models are anorexic.

I love that this AI model is a full bodied healthy looking woman.. You rarely see that in magazines or on TV, it's all emaciated women that are propelled to stardom on TV.

It doesn't help that so many of them have been splashed across their parent's social media since they were a mere scan photo.

The same parents who'll be trying to convince them that looks don't matter.

This. I grew up in the Twiggy era. I was NOT twig-like!

It genuinely never bothered me. I was curvy and never lacked for boyfriends.

I think the vast majority or women and girls aren’t affected by this kind of thing. Looking through photos that my 2 DILs post up on FB about their shenanigans almost all the women in their (very large) friendship group are plus size, and all have long term boyfriends/husbands, which totally belies the theory that men only want skinny women.

Of course there will be girls and women who will be affected, but those who are have deeper issues of lack of self esteem than is caused by photos in magazines.

In one way it makes sense since campaigns are so heavily airbrushed they don't resemble the model of actress used really.

However it will create even more unrealistic "body goals".
Also what I loved about Kate Moss for example is her personality comes through in photos & small imperfections can make a face more attractive imo.

I love that this AI model is a full bodied healthy looking woman..

But it's unrealistic, she is a healthy shape but her jawline, arms etc belong to a much slimmer body shape.

You can’t lay this at the door of the girls and blame them for their concerns that they must look good - it’s not their fault. Women are still socialised by society from an early age to look pretty and submit to men, who are socialised as more important and able to be taken seriously whether they look good or not.

An experiment was done which showed that girls as young as 7 presume that boys their age are cleverer than them. Why do you suppose that is?

I think the vast majority or women and girls aren’t affected by this kind of thing.

That would be great but I'm not sure I believe it. I'm older so am not that bothered but a lot of my younger colleagues see fillers and botox as normal and filter their photos so they look like insta clones. I don't think it's healthy.

If anything it's more honest admitting the whole model is totally fabricated. Rather than using real people and grossly distorting their bodies and features using Photoshop and editing and filters.

I'd feel less insecure knowing that it's not even remotely real and isn't meant to be. So of course a person would never look that way. It would be like being jealous of a robot or a cartoon.

As an image itself I’m not too worried about it’s effect as, currently anyway, every AI rendition I’ve seen looks like the same dull, doll-like person - it’s really obvious and makes the Guess campaign just look cheap.

I’d be more worried about who in the industry it could put out of work in the long term, as it gets more sophisticated and harder to tell if it’s fake.

Isn’t the issue unattainable beauty standards, seeping unconsciously into people’s realities rather than feeling threatened by an image per se?

@raininginlanzarote I am now mid/ late 40s. I don't think that external media actually made me feel jealous in youth, and I would have described myself as happy. I also don't compare myself, at this age, to what I feel are unrealistic images. But times are different now. My kids are too young for SM, but I will have to navigate how both sexes perceive themselves and others through the AI/ SM/ filters lens. Like any other parent really. It's reassuring about what your family and their friends are like. Thank you.

Yes, this exactly. The AI model reminds me of Doutzen Krose (may not be how you spell it). A real and very beautiful ?Dutch model. But it's the bombardment of perfect images that naturally then informs what you perceive to be usual and then expected.

Because society does? Their employers do. The voters do. Their families do. Enough of the faux surprise. Come on! Girls are rated snd faulted for lack of beauty from birth—and even before birth when you think of how dating and pregnancy are handled.

Good thing I didn't blame girls.

I think this is a key issue for me. AI will allow picking and choosing of the 'best' body parts. Instead of using curvier models who are curvy all over, or slim models who are slim all over so that different women can see themselves represented, AI will allow companies to stick together an absolutely unattainable without surgery frankenwoman. Big boobs, curvey hips, flat stomach, tones arms, slender legs.

@GaspingGekko exactly & the same model will be tweaked so her body parts & features are different for each photo. It won't even be obtainable by surgery tbh.

So Guess has gone for slug eyebrows and the trout pout. There is a demogtraphic that will identify with this look, but I would suggest that the sales figures will reveal whether the campaign has been successful or not.

Sports star - physically perfect and exceptional talent. Career lasts only a few years.
Politician - physically attractive is far more likely to be successful.
Activist - physically attractive is far more likely to gain attention in the media.
Artist - needs exceptional talent.
Singer - needs exceptional talent and very dependent upon physical attractiveness.
Actor - physically perfect, attractive and some talent required. Exceptional talent might mean some additional career opportunities past 34, being an international star may mean the occasional incredibly beautiful and physically perfect actor is able to continue without having to go down the cosmetic surgery route, but in all likelihood will be largely out of work once somebody younger comes along.
Musician - needs exceptional talent and physical attractiveness important for anything other than an anonymous accompanist/member of orchestra.
Scientist - needs exceptional intellect.

You've picked roles that are out of reach for pretty much 99+% of the population and are mostly dependent upon physical perfection/attractiveness.

Like so much of AI this seems the death of any variety and creativity. The AI models look very bland and blank faced. Some of the most famous models over the years have tended to be have much more quirky features. However, I’m not sure this is any worse for beauty standards than the heavy photoshopping that every fashion image has these days.