• Ad Age, Thursday, May 8, 2008 10:19 AM

In a May 12 profile in The New Yorker posted online, Pascal Dangin of New York's Box Studios is quoted as saying he extensively retouched photos used in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. If true, the revelation could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.

"It was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive," Dangin is quoted as saying.

A spokeswoman for Unilever didn't immediately return calls and email for comment. An attempt to reach Dangin was unsuccessful. But a spokeswoman for the campaign's creator, Ogilvy & Mather, cast doubt on the account of the celebrity fashion photo retoucher, though she said the agency is still attempting to collect details of his work, if any, on the ads.

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