Innovation/Provocation
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At the beginning of November 2017, there surfaced an app. An app that potentially could remove makeup from images, videos, and in real-time. The app was released in May 2017 but only got traffic in November the same year. But, the traffic and acknowledgment it got were not entirely positive.
The Augmented reality(AR)/Artificial Intelligence(AI) focused company Magic Unicorn Inc. released this app on the 19th of May 2017 on the app store for apple products. It was an app that could apply and remove makeup from the user with pictures, videos, and in real-time. An app that can apply and modify your appearance is nothing new. What gave this app a massive amount of attention was the fact that it could remove makeup. It caused great anger online and even caused a lot of damage. People, mainly men, used this app to provoke anger in women by taking their pictures online and changing them using the filter that removes makeup.
It’s a groundbreaking feature, to remove and add makeup and make it look realistic, but the developers were too naive in terms of the user base. The app had to be made unavailable after a period of time. Since it caused a lot of anger and gave online bullies an app to cause other people pain.
Reference list
App Store. (2017). MAKEAPP: AI BASED EDITOR. [online] Available at: https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/makeapp-ai-based-editor/id1236717369?l=en [Accessed 10 Feb. 2021].
Komar, M. (2017). MakeApp Claims To Remove Makeup From Photos & It’s As Misogynistic As It Sounds. [online] Bustle. Available at: https://www.bustle.com/p/makeapp-claims-to-remove-makeup-from-photos-its-as-misogynistic-as-it-sounds-5464556 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2021].
Ledbetter, C. (2017). Photo-Editing App Under Fire For Makeup Removal Feature. [online] HuffPost UK. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/makeapp-makeup-removal-app_n_5a0c56bde4b0b17ffce1aca1 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2021].
Pike, M.R. (2017). Celebrities are shown without their makeup thanks to new app MakeApp. [online] Mail Online. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5061625/New-app-MakeApp-shows-celebrities-without-makeup.html [Accessed 10 Feb. 2021].