Dear Paul and the Lifetouch Inc. Board of Directors,
I am a mother of 2 young daughters. Both are in elementary school. To you, I am a consumer in your target market. I may want formal school photos, much like my parents bought when I was in grade school. However, I now have an option my parents didn’t. I can have my daughters’ photos retouched. I understand that this is at an additional fee. But I believe the price is much larger.
My oldest daughter, now in 2nd grade, can read this easily on her own. She may not understand what retouching or what a blemish is yet, but that will come soon enough. It may even be a discussion I have with her now. How do you tell children and young adults that the majority of what they see in photos and magazines and advertisements is not real? How do you tell them that 22 year old model on a magazine cover was not good enough the way she looked, so her cheekbones were enhanced, her waist slimmed down, her chest enlarged and even her skin tone was altered. Maybe the question is not how you tell them, but why? Why is this woman not good enough the way she was?
Pre-teen and teen girls & boys face so many emotional and physical changes. They face many more pressures than I did growing up. I wonder if the young adults that see this on your forms feel differently after having read it. I wonder if they feel relieved or more self-conscious. I wonder, will they think they are good enough? I wonder if 30 years down the road they will know how beautiful they actually were, naturally. I wonder if this was a discussion before you added it to your forms.
These are all questions I do not have answers to. I can only hope that my girls will have the self-confidence and feel good in their skin that they will never feel the need to alter their appearance in a picture. That I can guide and teach and support them so they know that they are good enough. That they will see the beauty and grace they have beyond the picture. Looking back at several of my school photos, it’s not the bad hair, the funny clothes or even the zit on my forehead that I see anymore. It is the happiness in the eyes, the shyness in the smile, the perfection of being perfectly imperfect that makes those photos so memorable. I want my girls to see that in themselves.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Edith Smith
