Oprah Winfrey gets body transplant

Lately, websites such as Jezebel have become vigilant on reporting the cover misdeeds of magazines such as Redbook, Glamour and Vogue. It was Jezebel who published a "before" and "after" shot of Faith Hill from the July 2007 cover of Redbook that showed how a prominent clavicle or a freckled forearm are forbidden and quickly airbrushed to perfection. See it here and check out their recurring "Photoshop of Horrors" features.

Anyway, over the weekend, I was browsing the Museum of Hoaxes photo gallery and came across the worst case of photoshopping ever. The Aug. 26, 1989, cover of TV Guide, left, didn't just elongate Oprah's neck or add a waist and sexy biceps. Hell, no! They took a picture of the TV titan's head and transposed it onto the body of Ann-Margaret. (The shot of the iconic redhead had been taken in 1979.) Of course, it was clear that Oprah would not have posed on a pile of money. But it wasn't until the designer of the purple dress spoke up that TV Guide admitted to playing Freaky friday with the photos.

Fun fact: In 1990, Glamour ran a cover of Madonna in which they closed that gap between her front teeth. Madge seethed and the mag apologized.

Photo: Museum of Hoaxes

Comments

[scott]

Worst case of "photoshopping"... from 1989?

First, Adobe Photoshop did not exist back in 1989. Second, that cover was an illustration, not a composite photo. The illustrator literally copied elements of two photos, and he did a good job of maing it look photorealistic... and that's the problem. He did too good a job and copied the elements of the photo perfectly. That's not "photoshopping," that's "tracing."

(BTW, I realize I'm commenting on a post from a year old... but that doesn't seem like too big a deal considering that the post is commenting on an image that's 20 years old.)