Did Loreal whitewash Beyonce?

I found myself yesterday opining on something I'm not usually asked to comment on: cosmetics.

But in this case, it was a friend at the New York Post asking about an ad in the latest Elle magazine showing pop star Beyonce with a skin tone which appears to be several shades lighter than her actual skin color.

This is a serious issue for black folks, who have struggled even within the black community to deal with the idea that people with lighter skin tones are more attractive. It's tough to tell whether this effect was intentional -- the whole page seems to have the same glossed over light tone -- and the cosmetics giant has denied any overt effort to lighten her skin color.

But its easy to overlook the implications of a color change, particularly if you don't know the history of racial issues in America. And the French cosmetics giant may have learned a serious lesson about how far it can tweak the image of a powerful symbol of black pop culture without blowback.

Check out the comparisons and decide for yourself. In both examples, the Loreal ad is at right:

   

Comments

[cathi]

I see a lot of very dark black people who skin tone are just beautiful. I think they should just leave her just as it is, because I think it a better skin color.

[Robin 'Roblimo' Miller]

http://tinyurl.com/6nxtjp = a Google image search for "Beyonce." Look at the wide range of skin colors you see in different photos.

Besides, this is an ad. It's not reality. I don't really care if someone's skin shade is altered in an ad. And that hair... c'mon. That is *not* Ms. Knowles's natural hair. I mean, Eric, you may not be married to a black woman, as I am, but surely you've heard at least a little yammer from (black) female relatives about hair-straightening and how this one has "good hair" and that one is probably wearing extensions, and so on.

Take a look at other ads in Elle. All of the women in them are as "altered" in one way or another as Beyonce. We call the women in those ads "models" because they are not the real thing, any more than the model cars kids put together are real cars.

I don't care about reality-alteration in ads. I expect it. What *does* bother me is how common color correction has become in news video -- and in news still photography, too.

I assure you that many (if not most) news video clips go through some sort of color correction or compositing process before they air. And this bothers me far more than some model in a hair-dye ad with unnaturally straightened hair or lightened skin.

[drinklime]

Do the new packets of Loreal come with Photoshop too?