digital manipulation

From today’s print edition of the Spanish newspaper Público comes a short piece with the headline Veto a los anuncios de senos exagerados.

I can’t find it in the online version, but a very similar article is carried by the Libertad Digital website.

Both pieces report that the Asociación de Cirujanos Plásticos del Reino Unido have asked for a ban on adverts which show “fotografías de mujeres en bikini, en poses que parecen simular éxtasis, y con los senos manipulados digitalmente” because such ads raise unrealistic expectations in young women who face plastic surgery.

It’s the phrase “senos manipulados digitalmente” which bothers me. And a quick check with the RAE online dictionary confirms my concerns.

Manipular.
(Del lat. manipŭlus, manojo, unidad militar, y en b. lat. el ornamento sagrado).
1. tr. Operar con las manos […].

digital.
(Del lat. digitālis).
1. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a los dedos.

Those “senos manipulados digitalmente” sound as if they’ve been fondled and fingered and generally manhandled.

You can read what was actually said in the recommendation in English here on the BAAPS website. You’ll find that they actually talk about “digitally enhanced images” which is a rather less disturbing phrase.