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Racist Photoshopping

L'Oreal Denies Whitening Beyonce

Lauren G
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Cosmetics giant L’Oreal has been accused of lightening Beyonce’s skin tone in a new Feria hair colour advertisement featured in the September issues of Elle, Allure and Essence in the US.

In the two-page L’Oreal ad, Beyonce’s wind-swept hair is a reddish blond shade with highlights. A box of Feria in the ad features a white woman with a similar hair colour.

The ad created a stir after it was pointed out in a post by celebrity gossip website TMZ, which showed side-by-side photos comparing the ad with a photo of Beyonce with noticeably darker skin. It was the site’s most commented on post Thursday afternoon.

L’Oreal, the maker of Garnier hair care and Lancome cosmetics and the the world’s largest cosmetics maker, has issued a fervent denial. “We highly value our relationship with Ms Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L’Oreal Paris altered Ms Knowles’ features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair colour,” the Paris-based company said in a statement.

A representative for Beyonce said the singer would have no comment beyond L’Oreal’s statement.

25,212 clicks • Published: Aug 8, 08 • References: and news.au

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nellie ladon on Dec 15, 08 0 Trends 1 Comments

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So they lightened her skin. Big deal. Many models get their features changed in some way or another via Photoshop before their picture is used on a product -- nose made thinner and smaller, eyes enlarged, etc. And let's be honest: dark skin generally doesn't complement light, colorful shades of hair like that too well. It's not any more racist to lighten her skin to suit the hair color in the ad than to enlarge a model's eyes to show off mascara better. Why is it that people always have to whip out the racist card so quickly? Yes, I understand it's convenient when people can't think of anything else, but it's honestly starting to be so annoying. Saying lightening her skin in an ad is racist to blacks is like saying spray tans is racist to Northern Europeans. Grow up, people.

Jennifer Astle on Dec 15, 08 76 Trends 160 Comments

@ Nellie; It isn' quite the same because of the historical context of "lighter" African Americans being more sexualized among white men because they aren't still exotic without being "as black" as other black women, which leads into tons of other contextual and subjective issues of intersectionality between being sexualization and race etc... I assure you, no one is "whipping out the race card". It may be annoying for you to read, but a can guarantee that someone trying to make you into something that isn't you, that totally flies in the face of your cultural beliefs and ethnicity is far more annoying than an article. Just a thought.

Sandra Winn on Dec 15, 08 441 Trends 1,258 Comments

@Nellie, if dark skin doesn't compliment light, colorful shades of hair color...then why use use a black model wearing the non-complimentary hair color?