Does Reverse Psychology Really Sell?

There is an advertising trend at the moment capitalising on 'the real'. Are we really a generation now so savvy to the edited image that the unedited solicits a greater reaction (if the unedited is even possible)? There is a Dove advert where a woman is de-photo-shopped. Then there is Bing.com – the search engine with the slogan, 'what has information overload done to us?' Not to mention the proliferation of celebrity 'natural' photo-shoots; Sadie Frost for Grazia, Britney for Candies. So why does the seemingly natural sell more? When an audience is made to feel enlightened, empowered by inner knowledge, are they more likely to buy into this construction? This is still a mediated reality – still emitted from a TV or computer, via technology. It is perhaps more of an illusion. More masked for its transparency, it is selling itself as a reality that no longer exists. There is no such thing as an unedited photo. From the moment an eye is raised to a lens choices are made – the angle, the aim, the light. Why then, does this version sell better than others? In an age of technology, is it merely the promise of a unified reality that sells?