July 12, 2021

What if there were a color that could drive (some) people mad?

It's some kind of litmus test, so take the test: 

What is your reaction to this Ivanka family photo?
 
pollcode.com free polls

ADDED: My theory is that they adjusted the color until Arabella was dressed in the shade of blue associated with Tiffany & Co. — see it here — and the other clothing (and the sky) went along for the ride. It came out so cute and hilarious that they put it up on Instagram, and the haters made it viral.

BUT: I looked through her Instagram but didn't see the picture. Others dug all the way back to last year — I didn't go that far — and found it:

14 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Bryant writes (as you've probably observed, looking at the sky):

"Color is Photoshopped

"https://twitter.com/boozeandsweets/status/1414419611357835265/photo/1

"Even the sky is green in the photo you posted, the blue looks much more natural so I'm guessing the green one is fake."

I say:

Clearly the color is tweaked. I don't know who did it and whether it was Ivanka-friendly or Ivanka-hating.

Ann Althouse said...

Vinarce writes:

"The obvious answer is that they did it just for fun. Although I'm sure that choice #3 works just as well for them."

Ann Althouse said...

Kay writes:

"I hade to do a double, triple and quadruple take on that photograph just to be absolutely certain that Jared wasn’t wearing shorts. He’s not. But something about the way he’s posing or just the composition of it makes it seem as though Jared is wearing shorts. Or that he should be. Some weird trick of the eye. Not sure if this is related to the color scheme, or the fact that the boys are all in shorts.

"After a quick google search it turns out that Jared is definitely a shorts wearer."

Ann Althouse said...

Alex writes:

"Where's the option for "That's a lovely dress, but Jared looks like a dork"? Honestly, I hate the whole coordinated outfit deal. Usually it's an eyesore. If you're going to do it, make it subtler. If Jared were wearing slacks and the daughter was wearing a skirt, it would be better, since there would be some uniformity between men and women."

Ann Althouse said...

Lloyd writes:

"1. My answer would be: fun for the kids. If they are healthy kids, I can almost hear them laughing. Everybody matching. I also like the color (s).

"2. The youngest is really looking like the ex-Pres.

"3. I looked up the names again. Neither boy named after either of the grandfathers. I'm pretty sure Arabella is not named after either grandmother. Neither parent's names are continued either.

"4. Instead: more or less Kennedy names. Arabella Rose, Joseph Frederick, and Theodore James. Maybe "Theodore" goes back to TR. I kind of like this."

Ann Althouse said...

Brian writes:

"you know (we ALL know!) what's missing from this pic
REDHAIR
Green clothing should be the Exclusive Property of Ginger folk
[this message brought to you from the Corporation for "We Want To See MORE Redheads]"

I'll say:

I used to be a redhead.

Ann Althouse said...

Mofarmer wrote:

"I didn't vote because it is obvious: After the picture was taken the woman realized the man was the only one with no green on. She did a photoshop thing whereby all blue in the photo is turned to green. Makes him look like a dork. Great fun!"

Ann Althouse said...

My theory is somebody thought it would be cute to adjust the color until Arabella was wearing Tiffany blue and everyone else went along for the ride. It was posted because it was amusing and cute.

Ann Althouse said...

policraticus writes:

"I cannot express how little I cared. I cared so little that I didn't even recognize the Teal family as the Kushners until I read the comments. Then, I still didn't care. But, upon reflection and taking Kathy Griffin's obvious alarm into account, I decided that my apathy was, in fact, quite dangerous. I realized my indifference to a picture of an attractive young family standing for an informal portrait was evidence of my lack of engagement with this entire question of Trump, the Trump family, the Trumpist cabal, and potential of the International Trumpist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Ann Althouse said...

Quaestor writes:

"Another example of Althouse channeling the shade of H.P. Lovecraft -- "The Colour Out of Trumpland". Ooooo, scary. Too bad "Weird Tales" magazine is defunct. Perhaps Hulu could resurrect "Lights Out"?

"To me, their outfits do not look mad, just eccentric. To me, they look like a tribe of peripatetic brain surgeons on a dude ranch vacation."

I'll answer:

If you think that's the color of doctors' scrubs, you may have impaired color perception. But thanks for the Lovecraft compliment. I will lean into that.

Ann Althouse said...

Bruce writes:

"My vote was the first choice. The color made it look like the (inevitably) wife had picked matching outfits for everyone. That made Jared look like a PW’d beta boy, letting his wife dress him in an obnoxious outfit because she thought that it was cute. Making it worse, he is a bit thin and effeminate already. My partner has pictures of her, her daughter, and her oldest grandsons, all with matching outfits, and the outfits they were in were nowhere as bad looking as that one of the Kushners. No guys though.

"But when I looked more carefully, I noted that his jeans were blue/green, and not blue, like you would expect. From that I figured that everyone had been wearing blue, not blue/green, and that turned out to be true. And that latter, color correct, photo looks a lot more innocuous. They are a good looking family, but is Ivanka really wearing heels there? Can’t really tell."

Ann Althouse said...

ALP writes:

"This post gave me an immediate flashback to a conversation with my younger sister, who is a professor of grievance studies in California's state university system. Very purist, very hard core politically correct.

We don't see each other much - maybe once a year. While catching up during our last visit, she whipped out a photo of an old friend of hers from high school, who ended up marring a man and having three kids. First, my sister deeply disapproved of her friend getting married and having so many kids. So there is that offense to start. But the photo she showed me was very similar to this Ivanka photo - a family photo of blondes, with each person wearing denim of the soft blue variety. My sister was HORRIFIED...."LOOK at this PHOTO" she whines... I look. I see a family wearing the same thing for a photo. I was truly baffled - "sorry I don't see the problem...exactly what is so horrible here?" "LOOK at them...all in demin...LOOK"

"What a silly thing to get all excited about. She showed me the photo for the express purpose of getting my disapproval - distraught that I did not deliver. I have a feeling that if a black or Asian family did the same, everyone wearing a color that they felt brought out their best features...the reaction would have been different. What if an ethnic group decides to wear identical costumes of their ethic heritage...same reaction? There seems to be something especially offensive about white people, BLONDE white people, wearing the same color that seems to...enrage people. As they say SMH."

Ann Althouse said...

LA_Bob writes:

"I'd say whoever edited the year-old picture gave the Kushners their own Green New Deal....or Teal New Deal....or Green New Teal..."

Ann Althouse said...

I got a lot of email that I didn't post because I didn't see the issue (and kind of still don't).

Lloyd wrote: "I looked up the names again. Neither boy named after either of the grandfathers. I'm pretty sure Arabella is not named after either grandmother. Neither parent's names are continued either."

Readers wrote to say that the Jewish tradition is to refrain from naming children after living grandparents. Was Lloyd implying a criticism of them for not using name that's in the family? Anyway, when I saw "grandfathers," I thought it referred to Ivanka and Jared's grandfathers. Isn't that the usual approach for Jews, to go to that generation, the parents' grandfathers?