Can anybody tell me what's Wrong with this picture?

There's a scene in the 1993 Michael Douglas film Falling Down at a fast food restaurant, Douglas' character William Foster (D-Fens) attempts to order breakfast, but they have switched to the lunch menu. After an argument with the manager, Foster pulls a gun and accidentally fires into the ceiling. After trying to reassure the frightened employees and customers, he orders lunch, but is annoyed when the burger looks nothing like the one shown on the menu.

I can't be the only one who after ordering my meal returns to a table and in peeling back the grease proof wrap often quotes that film "Can anybody tell me what's wrong with this picture?" That juicy yet upright looking patty in the photo looks nothing like wilted Big Mac sitting there in its box, McDonalds, I'm loving it.(not)

Just like the movies employ green screen to edit out the stuff they don't want you to see, the wires holding up the floating spaceship, a Jedi Knight swinging a reflective stick at tennis balls on broom handles and 2014 telephone boxes in a 1940's movie it will come as no surprise to know that in order to make you believe high street retailers and brands are also employing a few tricks up their sleeves to get you to purchase their wares.

We've all seen the ridiculous airbrushed ads of actresses wrinkle free foreheads and models 20" waistlines in glossy lifestyle mags but for the most part this 'fake' advertising is going on all around you, how many Big Macs would McDonalds actually sell if they promoted what they actually served you?

And what about that fluffy looking misty effect Jane Fonda face cream ad, ol Hanoi Jane is knocking on for 76 years old and she sure as shit hasn't got a face as smooth as a Porsche 911 wheel arch without a surgeons help (several times apparently). No sir, take that surgery enhanced look away and she's probably a saggy old queen with more wrinkles than Yoda's feet. Wrinkly old women don't sell face cream, old wrinkle free women sell face cream. That firm smooth look old film stars have is normally because of a substance called hydroxypatie, a material used in implants because of its proximity to human bone. it's the key component of the injectible filler Radiesse.

A politician in England, Jo Swinson, headed up a complaint to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) regarding a L'Oreal Paris ad featuring the 41-year-old Rachel Weisz. The Revitalist Repair 10 product claimed to target 10 signs of aging but consumers felt that Weisz' complexion in the ad was a little too baby soft for their liking. (there's that soft fuzzy focus at work again).

According to a report in the Telegraph, a rep from the ASA said, "Although we considered that the image in the ad did not misrepresent the luminosity or wrinkling of Rachel Weisz's face, we considered that the image had been altered in a way that substantially changed her complexion to make it appear smoother and more even." The conclusion was that the supposed result you could get from the cream was exaggerated, and therefore the ad is misleading. Ironically the same newspaper revealed that a similar L'Oreal Paris ad featuring Jane Fonda also received complaints from consumers, but they were rejected by the ASA. Apparently it looks like the surgeon has done a bang up job.

Of course photographers have to tweak things a bit, under the harsh lighting conditions required for photo shoots those battery driven lights pump out some serious heat so more often than not 'tricks of the trade' as they are known come in to play. In cases of food photography where perishable food only stays fresh for a short while photographers have to employ other techniques to get around this, motor oil replaces syrup on pancakes, fruit is shined with hairspray, glue replaces milk. But why do we accept it as representing what we're buying?, There's hair advert on TV with a guy talking to camera and his young pretty late twenties goddess of a wife is putting on her sling backs in the background, "I don't know how Kate does it, he says " two kids, a full time job and yet her hair"..blah,blah,blah - even my wife shouts abuse at that. 'Two fucking kids and job!?, no way she looks like she just stepped out of a salon, try 24 hours in my shoes bitch!"

It's like the pension and health plans you see being promoted by healthy looking retired people on TV, "no salesman will call and you won't be asked any personal medical questions", that's all good and everything but it would be a lot more believable if the actor playing the retired old fella wasn't in an episode of Doctor Who as the "professor" a couple of weeks back. You mean he's not really got that health plan?, and what, that's not even his garden he pruning the heads off roses in, holy shit who do I believe now?.
But alas we do, women will still buy face creams that apparently turns them into 20 year hard bodies, men will buy hair regrow products because it's not really spray paint (yes it is) and old people still want that carriage clock free gift with the health plan because the old fella in the garden said it was fine, and he looked perfectly healthy.

Pulling the wool over our eyes is par for the course when you're nothing more than sheep.