We live in a time where it is most likely safe to assume that the image you are looking at, has undergone some sort of alteration. It may have been a tiny alteration to fix lighting, or something a bit more drastic, such as altering the background colour.
It's widely known that photos and images are altered in Photoshop. It has given Photoshop and image retouching a bad name. Some say it's unnatural to change an image. For example, changing a woman's waist in a photo to appear slimmer than it is in real life. To change the way the clothing wraps around a person's body. To elongate the legs of a model. To contour the face. The list goes on and on.
Some of the changes made are unnatural, but in the eyes of the image retoucher, the advertisement company, and the brand, they're just doing their jobs. Their job is to sell. Their goal is promote a benefit, and to promote it in the most appealing way possible.
I agree that some image retouching is a little extreme and unnecessary. Most models are thin enough as it is—and audiences know this—so why is it necessary to cinch her waist in further? Why create an unrealistic advertisement that could potentially drive away consumers?
Sometimes retouching is necessary. Lighting for a photo-shoot can be tricky to set perfectly. If the lighting wasn't perfected in the photo-shoot stage, some enhancing might be necessary in the editing stage. Maybe the eyes need a little bit of help to make them pop. Brightening the eyes instead of letting them blend in with the rest of the face and image, could make the difference between capturing and holding the attention of the audience, and being just another advertisement they filter out.
What if the image's lighting was way off? Maybe the resulting image is more unnatural than what is seen in real life. In which case, the image would need retouching to make it look more real and natural.
What if it distorted the colours? An advertisement needs to be able to portray the exact colours of their products and brands. If the hand bag being advertised looks green in the image, but in fact, is actually more blue than green, it can be confusing for the audience and consumers. They'd be going into the store trying to find a green hand bag. They might not find the bag, and if they do find the 'blue' handbag, they might feel deceived and lied to. They might think the company as unreliable.
I believe retouching an image can be necessary, but I believe there is and should be a limit.
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