These three images, from left to right, are a photograph of a woman now, a projection of how she could look in 10 years if she exercises, and a projection of how she could look in 10 years if she doesn’t exercise. Apparently these images are supposed to help motivate her to exercise.
I stared at those pictures for a couple of minutes last night, and if I were her, I wouldn’t bother exercising.
Or what about this guy? These are projections of him five years down the road, with and without exercise. I’d say five years are kinder to him than they are to me, but exercise doesn’t seem to make any difference.
These pictures – showing a 43-year-old woman now and 20 years down the road, with and without exercise – probably devastated her.
Frankly, I don’t think this technique is going to work to motivate people to exercise. All they’re going to see is how much older they’re going to look in 10 or 20 years, no matter what they do. (Which isn’t to say they shouldn’t exercise, of course – there are lots of good reasons to exercise, but staving off the ravages of time doesn’t appear to be one of them.)
Anyway. I’ve decided I definitely don’t need to see any computer-aged photographs of myself.
Maybe they should use photos of bodies instead of faces? Except bodies tend to age no matter what, too. This reminds me of something I read about how eliminating childhood obesity would extend the average person’s life span by six months. Does not sound like a strong motivational factor, especially to a 10-year-old.
Especially when you consider it’s six months off your 81st year…
I did a triple take and agree the “evidence” is sorely lacking in this case; though it does make me want to reapply sunscreen when (if) I do exercise.
I’m curious where these pictures come from? I can’t see any difference between them at all. I agree with Abby’s idea. Show me a picture of my butt over the next five years with and without exercise. Maybe add in as well with and without Doritos (my downfall!)
Finola, it’s from a Scottish study. Here’s the link. I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t tell the difference.
If you want to feel better Zoom, take a 20 year old photo and scan it in and see what it says you should look like now
Then you can say damn I aged WELL! And yeah, these things just really sell sunscreen!
Ridiculous. I can’t see the difference at all in the last two people and only a tiny bit in the first. It’s definitely not motivating me to get off the couch.
What I love are sun/age spots on both the women. Plus, the younger one looks way too young to have those kind of spots in 10 years time, unless she really overdoes the sun. Pretty pathetic attempt at the photoshopping/age process overall I’d say, particularly if they’re trying to scare people into exercising.
I’m in the “can’t tell the difference much” club here. I think body shots would be a better indication. I am 52 and have only this year decided that exercise is essential. I wish I could say I liked it but I don’t. I do like that I generally feel better and coworkers have asked if I’ve lost weight (I haven’t. What weight I have, I seem to be holding onto, it’s just tighter). And people just looking at my face don’t know how old I am.
The first woman did get a bit plumper in the cheeks without exercise. The guy didn’t change at all either way. Both women got really blotchy skin. The second woman seems to be losing her eyebrows with age!
I think there isn’t enough difference to convince anyone to exercise but still we should exercise. There is nothing better than staying in shape. 😀
they might have been better off to have one smile and one frown for the aging demo, just like for the diet ads. not convincing but at least there’s a difference.