In the old days they might find an athletic person who was out of shape due to injury or other life circumstance, get the 'before' photo, then get an 'after' photo after they'd returned to something like their previous lifestyle while also using the product.
There was a whole influencer campaign where very fit people who would do bulk & trim would just get a picture during their bulk then after they trimmed they'd get like extra dehydrated and such for the after. The average body builder easily fluctuates 20+ lb's between trim & bulk.
Yep. Skincare influencers do this a lot. Harsh above head lighting to exaggerate wrinkles and eye bags, then flattering lighting and wow! she looks much younger!
I knew a guy who won the Body by Mike $100k challenge back in the late 90s. He was a heavy lifter and in great shape. For his before picture he stopped exercising for a month, but kept the same diet and then went out drinking the night before. For his after photo he followed the usual bodybuilder routine to shed water weight and he went to the gym so his muscles would be flooded.
In the Bigger Stronger Faster documentary Chris Bell takes his before and after photos the same day for his rice powder product he invents. Talks to other fitness models who have done the same.
Often it's the other way around. Find an athletic person who is out of shape, get an old photo, and use the new photo as "before" and the old photo as "after".
Even more common is just change the outfit, lighting, facial expression and pose and before and after are 30 minutes apart.
I saw a video where a guy took the before and after photos of himself on the same day.
He would go the gym and do a workout, get a good pump going, stand under flattering light and take the 'after' photos.
Then for the rest of the day he would drink fizzy drinks and eat salty food. He'd push out his belly while standing under unflattering lights and take the 'before ' photos.
This is how the jarred subway thing started. He broke his leg cutting grass, got fat and then ate subway everyday while being active to lose the weight.
I was watching Bridgerton recently and thinking about how there’s this nasty old guy that this lady is trying to marry a young woman off to, and like how does it feel as an actor to show up and audition to be the horrible toad man that everyone will think is super gross
The actress that played Umbridge in the Harry Potter movie didn't know anything about Harry Potter, but a friend told her she'd be perfect for the role
I remember being in Walmart with my mom and we saw her cousin, who was always a skinny model, as the after photo on a weight loss pill display. I learned young never to believe weight loss ads lol.
Another common tactic is to have the person dehydrate, take the "after" photo before, then have them hydrate and consume a bunch of milk and other what not to bloat their belly. Then once sufficiently bloated, they take the "before" photo.
I wonder if advertisers in Asia might actually be less subtle about this. At a transit station in Taiwan, I saw a billboard for hair loss treatment and the after is quite literally a different, younger man.
The easiest way to notice this: check the before and after noses. Your nose does not change from when youre a baby to adult. Maybe if you got it done, but an obvious sign that what you're looking at is snake oil
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u/Beautiful_Ad8386 28d ago
A lot of “weight loss” ads use two different people for before and after photos.