The images of beauty that stare out at us from glossy pages are largely an unnatural product of digital manipulation - and yet teens strive to emulate the pictures they see on magazines and in advertising campaigns.
Cover Girl, a browser-based game coming soon to Channel 4 Education, aims to help teenagers understand that media and images are usually airbrushed, distorted and very carefully designed, so that what they see on a page is an unrealistic aesthetic ideal.
Cover Girl allows players to assume the role of a publishing house desk artist, charged with 'enhancing' the photos that adorn the publishers' fashion magazine. Players can airbrush wrinkles, add or remove cellulite, and shade ribs, abs, pecs and noses, adjusting the model to fit the magazine's story of the week, and learn how images are manipulated in the process.
Image is a construct, and players learn this through hands-on experience with Cover Girl.
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