As women, we just can’t catch a break when it comes to apps that are supposedly “created to make us look and feel better” but are actually detrimental to our image and self-esteem. Another one of these app called SkinneePix has just popped up.
SkinneePix lets you take selfies and edit the photos to make you look up to 7kg lighter. Once you’ve taken and uploaded your selfie to the app, you can choose how much weight you want it to shed off.
“SkinneePix makes your pictures look thinner. SkinneePix makes your photos look good and helps you feel good. It’s not complicated. No one needs to know. It’s our little secret,” reads the SkinneePix’s description on iTunes.
Ironically, the creators of SkinneePix are two women from a company called Pretty Smart Women LLC, who make “digital lifestyle products”.
“Cameras add additional weight to photos. When you’re taking a selfie you’re also dealing with bad lighting, angles, close-ups and a lot of other factors that make people complain that the photo isn’t an accurate representation of themselves,” says Susan Green, co-founder of Pretty Smart Women LLC.
So, because cameras are so bad at representing how we truly look, we should use an app that will make us look even more different to how we are in real life? Absolutely no logic there. There are filters that enhance a photo, such as those on Instagram, then there is pure deception and alteration, such as in the case of SkinneePix.
The problem with all this is first of all the name of the app. Skinny does not always equate being healthy and happy with who you are and how you look. Second of all for such a product to come from a company called Pretty Smart Women indicates that to be a pretty and smart woman, you need to be skinny. What kind of message does this send to young girls?
If this company is really about encouraging women to feel better about themselves through weight loss, isn’t encouraging exercise and healthy eating the way to go about it?
“It’s a good reminder to get off the couch, turn off the TV, and go for a walk,” Green says.
It’s more like a reminder of the insecurities you have about not looking a certain way and having to go to extremes to look skinny. Health apps and tips make people want to exercise, not SkinneePix.
Apps like SkinneePix do more harm than good and women are much better off without such and for R10.99, it’s just not worth it.
[Image: Shutterstock]
