Weekly Rewind: September 29

 5. Getty bans photoshopped pics of models

Retouching images of models to conform to an unrealistic 'beauty ideal' is a depressingly common practice in the media, but one brand, it seems, is finally taking a stand and has banned photoshopped images. As reported in the Independent this week, Getty Images has asked contributors "that you do not submit to us any creative content depicting models whose body shapes have been retouched to make them look thinner or larger.” Let's hope that others follow suit, so we're no longer subjected to photoshop fails such as W Magazine's 'Kneesgate'.

4. AI traders could replace Wolves of Wall Street

Robots are coming for our jobs and not even stockbrokers are safe, if a recent report from Markets Insider is to be believed. $96 billion hedge fund Man Group has recently implemented an AI system that "works well and generates profits"... despite no-one really understanding why it makes the trades it does. The system isn't foolproof - over-exuberant trading programs are suspected to have caused a stock market flash crash in 2010 - so it's likely to be years before we see the back of City traders. Which is a shame.

3. Epic Strut receives epic amount of complaints

The Advertising Standards Authority, the UK advertising regulator, this week released figures for the most complained about UK commercials of the first half of 2017.

Despite the proliferation of digital advertising it is TV commercials which again garner the most complaints from audiences with the medium getting 5,127 complaints about 2,272 ads. Chief among those complaints was MoneySuperMarket's Dance Off, which features a twerking man in high heels and hot pants. As The Guardian reports, Match.com’s ad showing a woman removing her partner’s top and passionately kissing her drew the second-highest number of complaints, while a McDonald's spot (which was eventually pulled) featuring a mother helping her son grieve for his father while sitting in one of the chain’s restaurants also came in for heavy criticism. 

2. Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner, dies at 91

Whether you were brave enough, as (generally) an adolecent boy, to brazenly purchase your own copy from the newsagents; whether you managed to find your dad's stash, hidden from mum's prying eyes, at the bottom of a drawer; or whether, as seems to be a frequent occurence, you found yours in some random bushes at the park, Playboy magazine formed an integral part of many teenagers' lives.

So, sad news yesterday that that 91-year-old Hugh Hefner, the founder of international adult magazine, passed away. While Hefner and his magazine were often divisive and controversial - low-grade smut or publishing barrier-breaker? - the publishing empire, and latterly spin off products using the Playboy brand, made Hefner a multi-millionaire and household name. Here, shots.net takes a look over some of the Playboy's best international commercials for a variety of its products, plus highlight a Hefner-starring spot for a beer brand.

1. Darling it's better, down where it's wetter... 

Epic underwater battles and Pixar-cute aquatic creatures... it can only be the much-anticipated sequel to the madly popular BBC nature programme Blue Planet. This week BBC Earth unveiled a five-minute trailer to the new series (called, originally enough, Blue Planet 2), which features David Attenborough's dulcet narration plus a reworked Radiohead track, (ocean) Bloom. If there's anything to match that incredible iguana-escaping-the-racer-snakes sequence from Planet Earth 2, viewers are set for cinematic levels of entertainment.