Last week there was a bit of a dustup on two of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing and Photoshop Disasters. You can read Boing Boing’s account of the situation here, here, and here. The basic gist is that Boing Boing published and mocked an advertisement by Ralph Lauren. In an attempt to cover up there own idiocy and silence Boing Boing, Ralph Lauren sent a DMCA Takedown notice to Boing Boing hoping to force them to remove the ad and mockery. However, in a win for the good guys, Boing Boing fought back, exposing leaving Ralph Lauren with egg on their face. This sort of things is commonly known as the Streisand Effect, and is the chief reason why suing the Internet does not work.
While I am late to the party, there is still room at the “Mock Ralph Lauren” table, so I wanted to take a moment to do so.
Photoshop Disasters and Boing Boing publish this jewel from Ralph Lauren:
Another impossibly shaped person. But unlike the first incident, we also have a copy of the original pre-Photoshopped image:
While both these images were published on Boing Boing, here is what I have added to the conversation:
I took the two images and created a simple animated Gif (with photoshop ) to better illustrate the “before” and “after” for this debauchery. Clearly, the photoshop technician hates hips, wrinkles, and properly alined right forearms. I have to admit, if you watch it for a while, it’s kind of hypnotic.