Whitewash and Photoshop
bella | Aug 08, 2008 | Comments 63
Is anyone genuinely surprised by this recent L’Oreal Feria/Beyonce skin lightening advertising drama? I wasn’t. Not at all. This has happened to Beyonce before, after all. And I don’t get why so many people are blaming Beyonce — do celebrities get final approval on how they look in advertising? I’m inclined to think not, given everything I’ve read about stars getting upset about how their appearance was altered for print. Beyonce’s not a Photoshop pro who touches up her own pics. Just about every image you see in a magazine has been digitally retouched by a angel somewhere along the line.
Lighting is artfully manipulated to soften harsh lines or to brighten up skin tone. Colors are lightened or saturated to become more vibrant. Bodies are digitally altered to appear more svelte. Cosmetics advertisements are probably the worst offenders — the deception begins before the photographs are really taken. You didn’t believe that the eyelashes celebrities bat at the screen in just about any mascara ad on TV were real, did you? All fake, sad to say.
I guess I’m just jaded by the practice, and I don’t think it’s going to change. I see a photo like this Feria ad, where Bey is practically unrecognizable, and it makes me angry. Of course it does. But then my analytical side kicks in. Call me cynical, but I just see this as one of those cyclical beauty industry sins that only become controversial when it’s glaringly obvious. Respect to Jezebel and Racialicious for wading so deep into the issue, because sometimes I’m like — oh no, not again.
In order to effectively make a statement to the advertising industry that hey — Photoshopping in your skewed, ethnically exclusive perspective of beauty is not cool — consumers have to get to the point where they’re so angry that they boycott the brand, the magazines, everything. That never happens. A comment on that Racialicious thread summed it all up pretty well, IMO — Black Canseco, an industry insider who has a pretty cool blog of his own put the Photoshop whitewashing issue like this: “It’s simply part of the business; and the business does it because it sells; and it sells because the masses of folks prefer it/are comfortable with it/believe this is how it should be.
So now what?”
Exactly. Does this kind of thing make you outraged? Do you believe consumers have the power to alter industry-wide practices? I’d love to hear from you all on this issue. Now what, indeed?
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Filed Under: Famous Faces • Hair • Issues • Skin
This is a dang shame. Not only did they lighten her up so she barely looks black, but they have her with some beach blond hair. This really is a slap in the face that the executives dont think that black is beautiful enough to sell their products, so they make her light. Its already a shame that people think that way, but then they act on it too? And what did the Loreal execs think Beyonce’s reaction would be?
[...] the still brewing L’Oreal controversy, Beyonce was spotted arriving in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon. The singer is scheduled to [...]
The people commenting on this are absoulutely ridiculous! There are more important issues to discuss than if Beyonce is trying to be white or they lightened her skin. What if they did? Who really cares? Last time I checked its her business and she didn’t ask to be a role model to your kids. You should be role models to your own kids. Leave the girl alone and let her be. I am so tired of jealous sisters saying she said she isn’t black or she wants to be white. Whatever she wants to be is her business. (Note: I am not light skinned) What she does has nothing to do with me or anyone on this blog so mind your business and take care of your home and get out of hers.
It’s remarkable to notice how much of an uproar this has caused because it’s Beyonce. It tickles me how many people, who have never met Ms. Knowles (Carter), seem to know what she thinks, what private things she may have done to herself and what she is trying to represent. Amazing! The ads with Eva Longoria showcase her extensions/weave and false eyelashes to sell the mascara and hair color and Beyonce wearing a weave is no different. Most models and celebs wear weaves to protect their natural hair from the damage that frequent,extreme styling does to it. Gabrielle Union wears a weave and Kerry Washington has worn one for roles and appearances. So what? Did you get this upset when our own Oscar winner JHud clearly had about 20 lbs shaved off her album cover? Do you insist she had “final approval” and should have told them no? The colorism-induced self-hatred makes a lot of our sisters hate on one of our own and it’s ridiculous. Beyonce is a light-skinned woman with a lot of influence. Rihanna is a light-skinned woman with growing influence. Halle and Latifah are medium-complected women with influence. Kerry and Gabrielle are darker-complected women with influence. They are models and their bankable faces get people to buy stuff–period. We should be proud of them all and not insist that THEY are “trying to convince us what to buy and what to use” because they are just faces for the companies who are trying to convince you what to buy and use. Do you really think Hillary Swank only wears Insolence perfume because she’s in the ad? Do you think Eva Longoria uses Feria or Preference when Ken Paves does her hair? Chill and focus your anger and vile for the right target….L’Oreal and the ad agency they used. Peace
Yo….
I like Beyonce. She’s pretty & she’s a good performer…but, Beyonce is TOTALLY COMMERCIAL. It is what it is. I don’t look to that chick for any inspiration style or fashion-wise & certainly not sista-wise. Although, she finally got on my radar by looking flawless in Dreamgirls…
Yeah, she looks a little different in these ads, but I don’t think she looks all that different from how she usually looks…artificial.
She is a talented performer though, & I always thought she was the best dancer in Destiny’s Child. In that “No, No, No” video w/ Wyclef, she was the only one puttin it down, droppin it like it was hot…LOL…
But, to Kelis…she’s a public figure, she puts it out there for the public, so therefore, public gotta right to comment. I don’t necessarily think that folks is just plain hating on her, saying that she wants to be White (anyone that has ever heard that chick talk knows for damn sure she’s not trying to be White, she has never lost her sister drawl, never…I sometimes used to cringe when I heard her talk, now I appreciate that she doesn’t go outta her way to tighten up on her pronunciations & get all nasal , she’s articulate, but she keeps it real)
Man, I just wish L-Boogie hadn’t of went crazy (she’ll be back), then she woulda represented for all us boho sexy natural chocolate (or not so chocolate) sistahs…talk about fly ass dopeness…man…
[...] the still brewing L’Oreal controversy, Beyonce was spotted arriving in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon. It is rumored that the singer is [...]
As I am a relatively new reader of this blog I thought this post was interesting enough to aid me in a final paper on the effects of images in pop culture, so thanks Afrobella.
In addition to that I would just like to say that I just received my latest issue of Essence (which has the Obama fam on the cover) and this L’oreal ad is featured. Let me report that in this ad the photo is in the right tones for both B’s skintone and the hair color.
I’m not sure what happened with the photo that we have here. Perhaps this was one that was touched up too much or perhaps after the attention L’oreal decided that they should present B as she originally is. Who knows?
Also, there have been other celebs who have questioned the way that their photos have been presented in ads: Mary J Blige for a cover of Essence that she didn’t like (I think it was Essence), and Queen Latifah was upset that pounds were taken off her body in ads for the Chicago movie. But anyhoo…
Just wanted to say thanks again for giving me an image to work with =).
Oh yeah, you can check out the link below for a comparison of the photo from the ad in Essence and the one that has been circulating.
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/08/beyonce-loreal-ad.php
has anyone asked themselves why beyonce is getting paid to advertise hair when hers is not of the real variety?
I also noticed this as in the new issue of Essence, but I also noticed the House of Deréon ad a few pages away where Beyonce is almost the same color as she is in the L’Oreal ad. So you can’t get mad at L’Oreal for doing what everyone else is doing, you have to attack the industry as a whole.
Sure wish to heck they would have done that, lighten us up, for us with those darn school pictures!!!
[...] diversity,” there are also cases of people subtracting diversity that also looks stoned, and lightening diversity so it appeals to a wider audience. It’s all the same response, pandering, to a reality people [...]
[...] Perhaps it was that L’Oreal debacle that brought the fierceness out? But perhaps not since that controversy seemed aimed more at L’Oreal than Beyoncé. Maybe it was the resurgence of everyone’s favorite [...]