plastic surgery fake top

A few years back we saw an image that would quickly became a symbol of our time, highlighting one of the major flaws in humankind’s obsession with achieving physical perfection. The image was a family portrait, the mother and father of which had both undergone plastic surgery and looked startlingly different from their three kids, all of whom had similar, very distinct physical features. As it was later discovered, however, the portrait was completely staged, and none of the people in it are related in any way.

Nevertheless, the negative impact of the photo was so great that the life of the young “mother” took a drastic turn for the worse after the image went viral. The woman is now suing the Taiwanese plastic surgery clinic and advertising firm behind the image for using it unfairly and for not explaining the nature of advertisement the photo would be used for.

The woman in the now infamous photo is Heidi Yeh, a model from Taiwan. Here’s a quick sample of her modeling work so you can see what she’s done outside of the infamous picture:

According to Taiwanese news sources, Heidi’s side of the story is that she signed a contract for the photo to be used in a different advertisement. She claims that the plastic surgery clinic stole the image and used it without permission.

Not only that, but Heidi’s lawyers also claim that she has suffered as a result of false accusations. After the anti-plastic surgery image exploded on the internet, wild rumors surfaced about a Chinese man who sued his wife for giving birth to an ugly baby. The story goes that the man felt he was deceived because his wife had plastic surgery, so he didn’t know what she really looked like.

Of course that story is not true, but the power of gossip is such that it severely impacted Heidi’s modeling career and mental health. The model’s lawyer told Taiwanese media that they are suing the plastic surgery clinic, the advertising firm, and Heidi’s agency at the time for breaking the terms specified in her contract.

Here’s the video of Heidi presenting her case to the media. Even if you don’t speak Chinese you’ll no doubt still be able to feel the emotion behind the model’s words:

But Heidi’s isn’t the only side of the story. The plastic surgery clinic that used the image says that they were given the photo perfectly legally via the advertising firm. The firm itself even claims that Heidi signed a consent form allowing them to use the photo as “a picture of a plastic surgery family.” Of course that use is up to interpretation, and it will be for the courts to decide whether or not the photo’s usage falls under that definition.

No matter who you think is in the wrong here, it’s hard to argue that the lives of the people in the photo have not been affected for the worse because of it. The parents of the children pictured are, as you might imagine, also upset over it, and they claim that the children’s faces were intentionally altered to look ugly.

Who will be declared right? Only time will tell. But until then, let’s just be glad that we finally know the truth behind the photo that we all may have jumped to conclusion about.

Source: Facebook/Simple Beauty, Facebook/J. Walter Thompson Taipei, Apple Daily TaiwanET Today, Liberty Times Net
Featured/top image: Twitter/@tw_chinatimes (Edited by RocketNews24)
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