Breaking News: Newsweek Alters Obama’s Skin Tone
December 1, 2009
Newsweek picture
This may not be the best time for Newsweek to publish a study that is a social experiment tied to the skin tone of the President, not after his wife’s image has been turned into a monkey on the web.
From Newsweek: “According to behavioral sciencist Eugene Caruso of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, these differences in perspective may literally be a difference in perception. In a new study, Caruso and colleagues Emily Balcetis of New York University and Nicole Mead of Tillberg University asked a group of undergraduates which of a series of photographs of both Obama–some of them secretly lightened and darkened–best represented who he is as a person. The results were striking: while self-described liberals tended to pick the digitally lightened photos of the president, self-described conservative students more frequently picked the darkened images. The more you agree with a politician, in other words, the lighter his skin tone seems; the less you agree, the darker it becomes.”
Given this blog has focused on the abuse of photoshop in the media, this article struck my eye. While I don’t fully understand the need for such a study on liberals vs conservatives and skin tone, it does have some merit.
Altering images digitally can help some people see things in a different way. It alters the reality of what the picture was about. This study seems to exploit that.
It’s an interesting idea, but I can’t help but wonder if the study is showing the true difference in the two opinions, or maybe it is searching for a hint of racism in all of us?
