How plastic surgery meme ruined my life (photos )

Two years after first starting out in the industry, the aspiring model was photographed for a small Taiwanese cosmetic surgery clinic. It was 2012 and she had already appeared in a number of other campaigns.

For the shoot, the company dressed the young model in a flattering gown and positioned her next to an equally-photogenic male model. In front of the pair were three children posing as the couple’s offspring. The children were less appealing to the eye, and deliberately so.
The two young boys and one girl were photoshopped for the ‘family’ portrait. Unlike their faux parents, who had big eyes and perfect features, the children were given unflattering appearances.

The caption on the final advertisement read: “The only thing you’ll ever have to worry about is how to explain it to the kids”.

Ms Yeh says she was told the ad would run locally in newspapers and magazines but claims the advertiser broke its word when it allowed another plastic surgery clinic to use the same creative treatment on its website and post it on Facebook.

It wasn’t long before the photo was picked up and mocked.
But it took on a whole life of its own when somebody changed the caption to read: “Plastic surgery — you can’t hide it forever”.

Like so many before her, Heidi Yeh says a meme ruined her life. She was dumped by her embarrassed boyfriend, her career was killed off and she has become a global laughing stock and the subject of nasty gossip, she has told the BBC.

Three years after posing for the photo, Ms Yeh is now threatening to sue the plastic surgery clinic and US-based advertising agency J Walter Thompson for $5 million new Taiwan dollars.

She said ;“When I first heard about this from a friend, I thought it was just a one-off rumour,”
“Just because I’m a model, people can hurt me like this and I can’t fight back. I just want to hide.”

Ms Yeh said people started believing the picture was real — that the male model was her husband and the children were her sons and daughter.

That happened after a Chinese tabloid ran a story about a husband who sued his wife after discovering she had plastic surgery and the couple’s kids grew up to look nothing like her.

“I realised the whole world was spreading it and in different languages,” Ms Yeh said.

“People actually thought it was real. Even my then-boyfriend’s friends would ask about it.”

She said memes quickly emerged in several languages including Arabic, English and Japanese. They have been shared millions of times since.

Now Ms Yeh says she can’t get work because clients either think she’s had plastic surgery or don’t want to their products associated with a worldwide joke. She’d previously done campaigns for the likes of KFC and Japanese beauty brands, according to the BBC.

“This has totally affected my work. People refuse to believe that I have never had plastic surgery. After this I only got small roles in advertisements.

“The biggest loss for me is I don’t want to be a model anymore.
“Because of what has happened I haven’t been able to sleep well and have broken down many times crying. I kept thinking, ‘Why is this happening to me?’”

She said she’s also worried about the other models in the photograph, particularly the children.

“I can’t bear to look at the picture. The children may not use social media now but it will hurt them when they grow up.

“They don’t look like that in real life.

Ms Yeh estimates she’s lost $4 million in lost income in the three years since the photograph was taken. She says she doesn’t want money, but does want the truth to come out.

The agency, J Walter Thompson, has said the ad was designed to promote plastic surgery in a “humorous manner” and as copyright holders, it had the right to alter the image. 

If Ms Yeh’s case goes to court, there’s a precedent that could work in her favour.