Parents furious over shocking detail from school photo day
Parents are fuming after they were offered retouching services for their children’s school photos.
Jennifer Greene, from Maryland in the US, says she was horrified to be given the option of editing her daughter’s annual photo when she received her school picture package from a photography company called Lifetouch last month.
The frustrated travel writer slammed the move on Twitter, posting a screenshot of the retouching services on offer including teeth whitening, skin tone evening and blemish removal.
“I”m going to need someone to explain to me why Lifetouch offers PHOTO RETOUCH for KIDS school pics?! What the hell?!” she wrote alongside the image.
This week, Ms Greene told the New York Post she completely disagrees with retouching a child’s school photo “because it’s teaching kids that they need to look perfect all the time and that they can change [a perceived flaw] with the click of a mouse.”
And she’s not the only one.
Last year, Florida mum Kristin Loe claimed her son Kieran’s freckles had been airbrushed from his school image after she gave permission for “basic retouching”, which just removes blemishes.
She posted the airbrushed photo next to a previous untouched school photo of Kieran to Twitter.
“Spring on the left, fall on the right. Lifetouch can I have his freckles back please?” she wrote.
“Don’t change things that are actually a part of a child’s face.”
While Ms Loe said Lifetouch resent her Kieran’s school photos with his freckles included, Ms Greene told the New York Post she never received a response.
In a statement to the publication, Lifetouch said it was their goal to authentically capture each child in their photographs.
“Photo retouch is an entirely opt-in service that customers choose to add on to photo packages,” the statement said.
“Most, if not all, school photography companies offer this service and it’s an expectation as an available option for schools.”
A third mum, Whitney Rose, went viral on TikTok earlier this month after she posted a video about her son’s hearing aids being edited out of his school photo.
The footage attracted more than 430,000 views, with many users urging her to contact the photo company, which she did not name.
In a later video to her Instagram, Ms Rose said the company denied removing the hearing aids and sent her another photo but they “still looked softened”.
She told her followers removing the hearing aids is sending a message to her son that he should be ashamed of his hearing loss.
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