Airbrushed pictures 'need warning labels' to prevent insecurity in young girls, government report wa

Airbrushed pictures 'need warning labels' to prevent insecurity in young girls, government report warns

By Sarah Harris

Last updated at 10:50 AM on 20th February 2010

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Magazine spreads featuring airbrushed actresses and models should come with warning symbols, a leading Government adviser has said.

Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a respected clinical psychologist, claimed false images of perfection were making young girls insecure about their looks and encouraging them to believe that super-skinny was the norm.

She has been commissioned by the Home Office to write a report on the sexualisation of children and teenagers, which will be published next Friday.

Dr Papadopoulos, of London Metropolitan University, will recommend that a working party is set up to find a way to label airbrushed fashion and beauty spreads, starting with teenage magazines.

'These social changes that tell girls they have to hyper-sexualise or be thin have a drip-drip effect,' she said. 'I think we are presenting young people with constructs and concepts that they're neither emotionally or cognitively able to understand.

'Whereas I can pick up a magazine and say "Clearly this is lighting and make-up", I'm pretty sure that a 13-year-old can't.

'I'm not saying people should stop airbrushing, but they need to be honest about it.'

Her warning comes a month after Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman criticised an airbrushed advert featuring Twiggy.

The Olay Definity Eye Illuminator campaign had been rapped by the Advertising Standards Authority after it was revealed a photograph of the model had been altered to soften the wrinkles around her eyes.

Miss Harman said: 'There's nothing wrong with women ageing. It's just a different stage of their life.' Yesterday, Dr Papadopoulos said a recognisable symbol on an image would help girls realise it had been altered to look better.

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'Subconsciously this could make a big difference because it will separate fantasy from reality,' Dr Papadopoulos added. 'It's going to say this is not a realistic ideal - people have pores on their face and if someone's waist was that small their lungs would collapse.'

She will also recommend age restrictions are put on lads magazines such as Zoo and Nuts to prevent young boys from buying them.

'We know that lads magazines are being sold to children at a much younger age than they're appropriate, so whether it's having a 16 or 18 certificate the way videos do is something we ought to be looking at,' she said.

And she warned computer games, pornography and T-shirts with sex-related slogans are making children sexualised from an early age.

'The problem is we are imposing inappropriate adult sexuality on our kids,' she said.