We don’t really know what to think about this banner ad for Portrait Professionals but every time we see it we’re gripped with a sense of alarm. The girl at left doesn’t look bad now, but you have to experience the ad by accident to achieve the full effect.
The before image flashes frenetically – maliciously, even – and is replaced by the after one, but not until after having destroyed an otherwise soothing browsing experience.
Plus, there’s something unsettlingly Dorian Gray about taking a mildly menacing photo and replacing it with a timid, disarming one. Suddenly we distrust all our hard-earned social networking friends.
