The front cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue is trying to be a bit more progressive this year, with one of the three covers produced featuring plus-size model Ashley Graham. The back cover, meanwhile, is comically subversive, featuring an absurd send-up of the process of airbrushing, courtesy of Snickers.
The ad, from BBDO New York, shows a model who's been (intentionally) Photoshopped to within an inch of her perfectly proportioned, well-tanned existence. But the retoucher has also screwed up a ton of stuff—because he or she was hungry, according to the brand message from Snickers.
"Photo retouchers get CONFUSED when they're hungry," says the headline, featuring one of the brand's "Hunger Bars," which replace the Snickers name on the packaging with the names of hunger symptoms.
See the full ad below. Click to enlarge. Snickers says there are 11 retouching errors in the image, and is asking fans to tweet at Snickers if they can find them all.
Meanwhile, the candy brand also took over the inside back cover with a similar parody ad. This one shows a model being overly windblown by a wind machine, whose operator was also apparently hunger afflicted.
This is the second year that Snickers and BBDO have taken over the back cover of the Swimsuit Issue. Last year's inspired execution featured Medusa—whom supermodels apparently act like when they're hungry.
Intentional Photoshop fails in advertising are nothing new, of course—check out this fun Colgate work from a few years back.
Credits for the new work below.
CREDITS
Client: Snickers
Titles: "Retoucher" and "Wind Machine"
Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Office, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Gianfranco Arena
Executive Creative Director: Peter Kain
Senior Art Director: Florian MARQUARDT
Senior Copywriter: Rodrigo Linhares
Executive Art Producer: Betsy Jablow
Project Producer: Albert Hajduk
Print Producer: Len Rappaport
Global Account Director: Susannah Keller
Account Director: Josh Steinman
Account Manager: Nick Robbins
Planner: Alaina Crystal
Photographer: Vincent Dixon