To combat body dysmorphia in Norway, new rules are fighting back against artificial beauty standards on social media platforms. Influencers who distribute retouched photos of their bodies in promotional postings on social media without mentioning that it is an edited image are breaking the law, according to amendments to the 2009 Marketing Act.
Advertisements with alterations to a body’s size, shape, or skin will need to have a mark of a standardized label. The Norwegian Ministry of Children and Family Affairs has designed the label. Amendments made by the Norwegian Ministry of Children and Family Affairs are passed with a large 72 to 15 vote in the government.
It also includes celebrities and influencers who “receive any payment or other benefit” as a result of a social media post. These modifications will apply to photos with exaggerated lips, waistlines, and muscles after one takes the shot. It also includes those generated using a filter. Violations of the legislation will result in rising penalties, with the possibility of jail in extreme circumstances.
The goal of Norway against the artificial beauty standards
The goal is that enforcing a label will make it clearer when a body image is false. Also, potentially discouraging advertisers and artists from altering their pictures in the first place. The Ministry acknowledges, however, that the rule may be difficult to implement. It is not always simple to identify when it is an edited picture or no.
Another problem addressed by the regulation is whether or not changes to lighting or saturation in photographs would be a violation. Though these are standard photographic methods, they may use to brighten models’ skin tones. It could promote the idea of whiteness.
According to local daily Verdens Gang, the bill has garnered significant support from Norway’s influencer community. Many claims that it gives a feeling of reality to the notion of unachievable bodies. It also prevents filters from becoming problematic. “Filters [are] something that should be fun, something you can laugh at, or be allowed to have a realistic butterfly on your face. Not to create a false beauty ideal,” said influencer Annijor Jørgensen in the article.