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Headline: Student Calls For Law To Force Advertisers To Declare When Images Have Been Digitally Enhanced

Caption: A student has launched an online petition calling on the government to make it compulsory for adverts to declare whether images have been digitally altered to enhance people’s looks. Lara Philippart, 24, currently studying her Masters Degree in ‘Public Health and Health Promotion’ at Swansea University, is calling on the UK Government to enact a legislation that would legally require advertisers, brands and influencers to declare to the public when their images of models and celebrities have been digitally edited, filtered or altered. Lara, a former athlete who used to run for Wales, herself has fallen victim to “perfectionistic” pressures as seen on social media, but has now learnt to take control of her social media and eliminated accounts which she felt were triggering. A recent survey conducted by Action for Children revealed concerning statistics that one in three UK teenagers feel "ashamed of their body", causing them substantial physical and psychological distress. Lara explains: "Research shows people who edit their own images by using editing software or filters end up feeling worse about themselves, and in cases then feel the need to obtain costly cosmetic surgery to look like their online version of themselves. I believe if law existed to declare image alterations and enhancements, it would be a positive start in helping people to stop feeling pressured or directly comparing themselves to modified images of models and celebrities." Lara's petition requires 10,000 signatures by October 2021 to be discussed in Parliament: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/576724

Keywords: science, tech, technology, sci, news, health, mental, change, body, image, online, reform, gov, government, protest, social, media, feature, portrait

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