Some retouching is common at magazines. Since the retouching tends to cast celebrities in a more flattering light, they are usually complicit, although Mr. Roddick is not the first to complain. In 2003, the actress Kate Winslet took umbrage at the British edition of GQ, which she said had slimmed her legs down in a cover image.

Roy Peter Clark, vice president of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, criticized the practice.

“This is totally predictable and I think a scandal in the culture of contemporary magazines,” Mr. Clark said after looking over the Men’s Fitness cover. “Magazines that are careful about photo manipulation inside the magazine lower their standards when it comes to the cover. It’s as if the standards of accuracy and truthful representation don’t exist when it comes to the cover, and that seems very wrong to me.”

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