According Tim Hendrick, Assistant Professor of Advertising at San Jose State University, the image used in the Macy's Ad appears to be an odd piece of manipulation. "It's a really gray area, because we don't know if the Macy's photographer shot the picture and
then mainpulated it before submitting it," Hendrick said.
"The person ultimately
responsible for approving the picture is the client. This is more a
creative issue than an ethical issue. In this case, this is just very
poor creative," he said.