The cover of Toronto's latest Fun Guide has a multiethnic family on it.
Cool, right? Well, it's not as cool when the mag's editors make it multiethnic after the fact.
From The National Post [1]:
The smiling, ethnically diverse family featured on the cover of Toronto's latest edition of its summer Fun Guide [2] was digitally altered to make the photo more "inclusive," which city officials say is in keeping with a policy to reflect diversity.
A spokesman for the department that publishes the guide listing recreation activities confirmed the publication was doctored to insert the face of a different father.
"He superimposed the African-Canadian person onto the family cluster in the original photo. It was two photographs and one head was superimposed over the original family photo," said John Gosgnach, communications director for the social development division.
"The goal was to depict the diversity of Toronto and its residents."
"The policy doesn't say PhotoShop, the policy says 'show diversity' and that's of course what we try and do because we want all of our publications to reflect the community that we serve," explained Mr. Sack, who oversees city communications. "That's only fair. People should see themselves reflected in city services because it's everyone who uses them."
There are no criteria for what constitutes diversity, he acknowledged when asked how the policy is implemented in practice and why the family in the initial image didn't seem to fit the bill.
"That's an interesting conversation," Mr. Sack said. "This does not look like a nondescript white family, it looks maybe Latino."
Toronto Fun Guide FAIL.