Critics pounce on Vogue magazine's 'airbrushed' and 'photoshopped' cover photo of VP Harris

By 
 October 17, 2024

There is no question that the left-leaning media is backing Vice President Kamala Harris to be the next president, and symbolic of that overt support is the recent and highly flattering cover photo for Vogue magazine.

That photo has sparked widespread criticism, however, over an alleged heavy use of airbrushing and photoshopping to make the picture as favorable as possible for the Democratic nominee, the Inquisitr reported.

It also prompted Harris' defenders to spring into action to protect the White House wanna-be, typically by way of comparative counterattacks against her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Vogue's flattering portrayal of VP Harris

On Friday, Oct. 11, the fashion magazine Vogue unveiled on Instagram the digital cover of its October issue that featured VP Harris and a caption that denoted her as "The candidate for our times."

 

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A post shared by Vogue (@voguemagazine)

The post effusively praised the Democratic nominee and said, "Only rarely are individuals summoned overnight for acts of national rescue, but in late July, Vice President @KamalaHarris received one of those calls."

"With President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign, the world looked to Harris with hopes and doubts," the post continued. "She was a leader of widespread support but no especial following, and now, she was expected to do something unprecedented in American history: to mount, and win, a presidential race in three months, as a woman of color, with a felonious former leader as the opposition and the future of democracy said to be at stake."

As flattering as the cover photo was, however, it barely matched the unmitigated adulation of the accompanying Vogue profile piece that painted a picture of near-perfection for the California politician who would be the nation's first female president, if selected by voters in November.

Cover photo sharply criticized by some

It was all just a little bit too near-perfect for some critics, though, according to Inquisitr, who "roasted" the magazine and the candidate over how "heavily airbrushed" and obviously photoshopped the Vogue cover shoot was.

"Of course, it's photoshopped. Even made her more black," one social media critic observed, while another said, "The airbrushing on Kamala's Vogue cover is HEAVY," and a third panned the altered photo and noted, "Instead of VOGUE behind her, it should say VAGUE!"

Other critics got more specific, with some posting decidedly unaltered and unflattering photos of Harris in response, another pointing out that the magazine "cleaned up the turkey neck real good," and still another observing, "Her head is TINY, her hands are HUGE ..... they are a national magazine, they have all the photoshop in the world, and they release this????"

One critic noted the timing of the cover's release and the photo shoot a few days earlier that took place while millions of Americans were dealing with the initial devastating effects of Hurricane Helene, while yet another got personal and commented, "Well you can't airbrush stupidity and she shows that every time she opens her mouth."

Harris defended by supporters and the media

To be sure, VP Harris had plenty of defenders in the comments too, most of whom positively compared her to former President Trump, as they had little else to actually defend her on.

None of those supporters could top the defense of Harris mounted by CNN Style, however, which barely concealed its admiration of the Democratic nominee as it drew a contrast between this recent Vogue cover shoot and the more informal, and supposedly controversial, first Vogue cover Harris received when she first ascended to the vice presidency in 2021.

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