GQ has been caught publishing an image in which two female CEOs were Photoshopped in. The photo was taken during a trip where a series of “tech titans” took to a small Italian village in order to visit luxury designer Brunello Cucinelli, but a BuzzFeed News editor called them out after feeling the image looked suspicious.
The two women in the photo, SunRun CEO Lynn Jurich and Peek CEO Ruzwana Bashir, clearly look out of place. The lighting and pixelation don’t seem to match the other subjects pictured in the photo.
Taking to Twitter, Ryan Mac, of BuzzFeed News, voiced his wariness. A Google reverse image search from one of his followers revealed an original version of the same photo, which only contains the 15 men, with no sign of Jurich or Bashir.
The image was traced back to a LinkedIn account, that of Ferdinando de Bellis, a partner at an Italian communications firm that has worked with designer Cucinelli. A representative, replying to BuzzFeed, explained:
When we realized we didn’t have a shot where all attendees were represented, we added in photos of two female CEOs taken during the weekend. The photos were shared and approved with all the participants including the two women, Lynn Jurich and Ruzwana Bashir, before posting them on Instagram and they also shared the group photo on their own Instagram handles. We meant no harm or had any malicious intent in doing this and we are sorry.
GQ also amended their article, claiming to have no knowledge of the alteration. “An image provided by a Brunello Cucinelli representative that did not meet GQ’s editorial standards was removed from this story,” the magazine said.
Mmm, there are worse sins. But Google reverse image search? I confess I've never heard of that, must give it a go. I gather it uses exif data. I usually find that's stripped from online images. Curious.
as far as i know google image search isn't looking at exif but instead looking at visually similar images for a match. i know sometimes I've used it and it will bring up similar shots from the same shoot. Give it a try its a useful tool.
Okay thanks. I am of course familiar with image search,but not the 'reverse'.
I was involved with a project that used Microsoft technology that uses AI to identifiy similar images. Child porn investigations. Horrid stuff and glad to say I was not one of those who had to view them.
It's a good way to see if anyone's stolen your photos lol
So they were on the trip, but weren't on location for the group photo presumably because they had stuff to do. Everyone in the photo was OK with the Photoshop job (the women who were shopped in included). Shit happens...Where's the story here?
It seems that the specific attendees who were photoshopped made for such a juicy headline that no one could resist it.
I dunno,this has been standard operational procedure for eons, I dn't get the big stink about it.
What is the controversy here?
More fake news crapola
Honestly not a big deal at all. I get asked to add in people who weren't in group photos all the time. I get how it looks, but if both female attendees approved of this then it shouldn't be a big deal and it looks like GQ didn't even know about it.
I don't know whats worse... Fstoppers articles or Tony & Chelsea Northrup videos.