Proposed Massachusetts legislation would give a tax credit to corporations that don’t digitally alter models’ skin tone, skin texture including wrinkles, body size, or body shape in ad images.
Legal research by S. Bryn Austin, an expert in eating disorders at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues provided the basis for the bill, which was introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature by Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton).
In a press release from Khan’s office, Austin, professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences and director of STRIPED (Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders), said that exposure to manipulated photos can set young people on a dangerous path toward eating disorders. She said that the new bill could help accelerate a trend among some corporations to pledge not to digitally manipulate images of models to conform to harmful beauty ideals.
Read a Boston Magazine article: This New Bill Incentivizes Companies to Use Unedited Images of Models
Read an Associated Press article: Massachusetts bill would reward firms that don’t alter models’ images
Read a Politico Massachusetts Playbook article: Khan goes after altered ads – DeLeo sidesteps Baker – Healey backs abortion bill