Ask a Manager: my boss excessively Photoshops herself on our company’s social media

[beable]

A reader writes:

I work at a respected firm in a niche industry. I graduated college this year so I’m the newest person here. Besides my manager (I’ll call her Elizabeth), everyone else has worked here for 15 years or more and has decades of experience in the industry.

When Elizabeth was hired as a manager last year, the firm didn’t have any kind of social media presence. She changed that and she set up social media accounts for the firm. The industry is changing and other firms as well as our clients all use it now. Since she was the only person at the firm who knew how to use and run social media, she was put in charge of the accounts.

There is something Elizabeth is doing which makes her and the firm looks bad and is causing problems, with our clients and in general. When she is in a photo she posts to our social media, she Photoshops herself. I don’t mean she removes one blemish; she makes herself taller, thinner, lengthens her hair and her legs, makes her teeth whiter, etc. The Photoshopping is not great and anyone can tell she has altered the photo. She has accidentally given herself an extra arm or hand, removed a leg, or posted with a distorted or bent background. Sometimes the changes to her nose, eye color, or chest size make her look like a different person.

When the photo is taken at a conference or client event, Elizabeth will look completely different in photos taken and posted by others at the event vs. the ones she posts herself. If she is posing with a group and several people take photos of them, in the one Elizabeth posts she will be the tallest instead of the shortest, 50-75 pounds lighter, and her face will be filtered. The differences between the photos will be staggering and not subtle. Tables and door frames in the background will be bent and other people in the photo around her will look distorted. She never Photoshops anyone else, but sometimes they look distorted or cut off because of the changes to her.

Clients and people from other firms have called us out online and privately. I think it makes our credibility look bad, but when I asked Elizabeth about the policy on photoshopping photos, she said I should understand how hard it is for women who have body issues when the standards of beauty are impossible.

The firm’s owner and others at the firm don’t have a clue about social media and don’t know what she is doing. I am half a foot taller than Elizabeth, but in a photo she made herself taller than me. Her hips were at my chest and it looked bizarre. My torso was partially missing where she slimmed hers. Clients have accused her and the firm of deception and I know of two who have taken their business elsewhere because she photoshopped photos of herself at their events or lied about doing it when they asked her about our social media.

This looks bad to our clients and others in the industry. How do I make the firm’s owner and higher-ups aware of this? Elizabeth is my manager and got angry when I asked her about it. She has been here longer and knows them better. This firm is well-known and respected and we are losing credibility and business because of her.

I … would think it was kind of amazing if a company I followed on social media had someone who kept doing this. Photos of corporate events are usually so boring, but this would make me eager to look at them.

Obviously it sucks for Elizabeth that she feels compelled to make such extreme alterations to her photos, and I don’t mean to make light of that. The beauty standard for women is oppressive. But really — she’s removing her hands and legs and obliterating your torso in her quest for Instagram appeal. On work photos! That she’s posting on your firm’s social media!

Anyway … while on one hand I could see people writing this off as a bizarre and embarrassing quirk of Elizabeth’s, you’re right that it makes your firm look strange and unprofessional. And the lying is the worst of it; if she’s obviously lying when asked about it, that’s especially going to harm her credibility and trustworthiness (even more than these weird photos edits already do).

That said, I don’t think you have to alert higher-ups at your firm to this. As a junior person there who has already tried to raise it, it doesn’t rise to the “absolutely must escalate this further” level. The exception to that would be if this directly intersects with your job — like if you’re in a marketing or client services role, where you’d have more of an obligation to flag this.

But just because you don’t have to doesn’t mean you can’t. If you decide you want to take it on, I’d pick the person you have the best rapport with (or the person with the best understanding of social media and/or stuff like Photoshop) and say something like, “Can you give me your advice on something? I’m concerned about the extreme Photoshop work Elizabeth does on the photos of herself she posts on our social media — she regularly makes herself significantly taller, lengthens her hair, changes her eye color, and filters her face, to the point that it looks nothing like her. The changes are often really obvious — the photos are distorted and sometimes she’s accidentally given herself an extra hand or removed a leg. I’ve been worried it’s making us look unprofessional, and I’ve learned at least two clients have stopped working with us over it, while others have accused the firm of being deceptive in our photos. Should I flag this for someone?”

You actually are flagging it for someone just by saying this, of course. But framing it as “can I get your advice on this?” and “is this something we should be worried about?” lets you bring it up without as much of an awkward/tricky “I need to report incredibly bizarre behavior from my manager” framework. (In fact, “can I get your advice on this?” is a useful trick in general to use when you want to bring something to someone’s attention without just dumping the problem on them.)

From there, it’s up to your firm to decide how/whether to handle this, but you’ll have done your part in making them aware of it.

Comments

[beable]

So I think that

a) if Elizabeth has other job responsibilities such that SM is extra, they should hire someone else to do social media

or

b) if social media is Elizabeth's main responsibility, they should either spring for actual "this is how to Photoshop subtly rather than make us look ridiculous" training or spring for a an actual graphics budget and tell Elizabeth she is no longer allowed to Photoshop things directly for the SM accounts but to send them to the trained professionals to edit if needed.

Also while I get that in the professional world of people doing SERIOUS BUSINESS having this type of bizarre stuff on a companies SM page would be off-putting and unprofressionional. But as a Jane in the street with no skin in the game, I kinda wish I knew where LW worked so that I can follow their SM and laugh my ass off.

[shirou]

The owners may not understand social media, but they will understand that Elizabeth is losing clients. Raise the issue.

[cereta]

What you said.

[mommy]

Agreed.

[staranise]

I'm a terrible person and would love to see the firm's Instagram account.

[beable]

I know, right?

[minoanmiss]

You, me, the Ask A Manager commenters...

[delight]

Same.

[purlewe]

it has to be really bad to be losing clients, which only makes me wish I could see the results to laugh at myself.

yeah they need to get a professional in there for photography and their SM and it should not be this person if she is losing clients.