Did Beyoncé Get Whited Out?
Earlier this week a new ad campaign photo for Feria haircolor by L’Oréal Paris featuring Beyoncé Knowles made its way to the Interweb and astute viewers (you know, people with eyes) noticed that Beyoncé was lookin’ much whiter than she usually looks (which isn’t white at all) and speculation began to go around that the folks at L’Oréal Paris might’ve lightened her skin tone a bit for the ad campaign. But today, E! News reports that L’Oréal Paris is categorically denying that they did any such thing. HMMM. Here is a pic of Beyoncé and the ad in question in a side-by-side comparison so that you can judge for yourself:
Looks can be deceiving. Apparently. Yesterday, a new print ad for L’Oréal Paris’ Feria hair color surfaced, featuring a seemingly paler than usual Beyoncé Knowles. Today, the French cosmetics giant is adamantly denying that it gave its longtime spokeswoman a case of the Michael Jacksons. “Beyoncé Knowles has been a spokesperson for the L’Oréal Paris brand since 2001,” the company said in a statement to E! News, after coming under withering online attacks suggesting the ad (on right, above) lightened more than just the hair color of the brand’s famous face. “We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L’Oréal Paris altered Ms. Knowles’ features or skin-tone in the campaign for Feria’s hair color.” A rep for the 27-year-old Knowles declined to comment beyond the L’Oréal statement. The ad is appearing in this month’s Elle. So far the magazine has not said anything about possible Pantone issues.
HMM. Well there is no question that Beyoncé looks much lighter in the Feria ad to me so the question becomes, why does her skin tone look so much lighter. It’s possible that the Elle magazine printing may be the cause of the lightening but I dunno if Elle is gonna wanna take on that responsibility. I sincerely hope that this lightening is just an error somewhere along the line and it wasn’t purposely decided by someone that it would be wise to make an African American woman look lighter just to sell more hair color. Tho, we may never get a either an admittance or a solid answer one way or the other.
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Tags: Beyoncé Knowles, L'Oréal Paris
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August 7th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
you know, just changing the light in the room can do A LOT to a picture. they clearly lightened her hair (and admit to it) and also her eyebrows, but a good portion of that skin tone could be due to the difference in lighting. look at her here, for instance. http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/beyonceknowles/beyonce_knowles1_300_400.jpg
August 7th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Eyebrows can change a lot about a persons appearance. Her face just seems a little lighter.. and maybe its the hair color and eyebrows? Maybe she had a tan in her first picture you put up also. She looks about the same to me.. maybe just a little bit more tawny…
August 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
LOL!! People have way to much time on thier hands. I would never have noticed that and it could be because of a million reasons. I seriously doubt it was intentional. I mean, they are hiring a black woman to represent them so why lighten her skin? Seriously….that was a funny story!
August 7th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Two possiblities:
1. They are lying. In which case, I’d respect them more if they fessed up ti it and took the rap, said that they’d done it to match the hair dye more or w/e
2. She had a lot of lighting on her, and a mixture of camera filters to give the hair extra OOMPH has made her look washed out.
It is odd though, because her eyes appear to be the same shade in both pictures.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
What I do not understand is why Beyonce would really even do the add. Most of that hair isn’t even hers. So what the hell, it’s not even about making her look lighter but that the fact that she is in an ad for hair. She can but her hair any color she wants…
August 7th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
It’s possible, but unlikely in my opinion. I think lighting and/or makeup played a bigger part.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I think she’s been getting lighter and blonder for a while now. I don’t think L’Oréal had anything to do with it.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
She is lighter. And I think it’s the photo, not the lighting. I say this mainly because of what Nicola said.. .her eyes look the same colour. If it was the lighting, wouldn’t they look lighter too? Plus, there are photos of black women in magazines and THEY don’t look lighter due to any lighter.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
She is light-skinned. Always has been. The picture to the left is a particularly dark one of her. Look at others to compare.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Hahaha her color varies from picture to picture which is probably due to tanning. Someone is always trying to start trouble
August 7th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
it’s not much of a difference. between lighting, make-up, hair and eyebrow color, you get the illusion that she’s been lightened. probably not do to L’Oréal, although possible.
besides is you look at old pics of Mary J Blige vs. Pics of her with blond/lighter hair you see the same thing happen add lights and make-up and your practically as light as Michael Jackson!
August 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
My first thought was that in the first picture she seems a lot darker than usual. There are probably a million pictures of her, with her skin tone varying.
I know with me, my skin tone varies in photos and even in real life depending on weather, lighting, everything.
Tp Aybe who says it makes no sense to hire a black woman if they’re going to make her look white–that happens all of the time!! The most famous black celebrities are usually light-skinned, with straight har. (Halle Berry, Beyonce, Rihanna)
August 7th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Maybe it’s the haircolor. I know that when I lighten my hair in the summer, no matter how tan I am, my skin looks lighter. I think people need to chill out.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
you guys are all on crack. there is no way any american would even recognize the right pic as beyonce without context…
August 7th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
This is one of the dumbest “controversies” yet. It must be a really slow news/gossip day. Not only does skin tone, especially of light-skinned people of any race look differently toned in varying lighting conditions, but Black skin does tan, and make-up does wonders too. What the hell are you people smoking?
August 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Beyoncé has always had golden skin thats why she was cast in AP:Goldmember. I don’t where you got the black Beyoncé from?
August 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I am not really interested in her she can do her own thing. I mean I would never change my skin colour. I don’t think she should either. I mean it is just wrong. God gave us our body and we should not try to change it. What is she trying to prove? It doesn’t look natural. It is plainly wrong. Full stop.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Melissa, thats not what Beyonce wanted. Shes not the one that wanted to change her skin tone. Its not her fault. I’m a Beyonce fan, and I don’t see any different in the picture. And her skin tone is always changing. In this case, I think its normal or just the lighting. She looks good btw =)
August 7th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
shes naturally light..and it was probrably all lighting anyways. remember sometimes people tan change colors or even half fake tans (some half people do it too) Im about her color and I’ve seen pictures of me looking light as a ghost and as dark as the one on the left it all depends on lighting. and they could also of just photoshopped any part of her during airbrushing stages and such. anyways… its probrably lighting.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Well, don’t you all think that her natural hair should be thight curled anyway…like her character Foxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers? I mean, she is not white and changed her hair during the course of her life to look more like a white person’s hair.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:09 am
She looks way better on the left pic
August 8th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Photo shop.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:57 am
I think that the loreal pic is photoshopped.
August 8th, 2008 at 4:45 am
The bigger issue here is how bad she looks in the ad. It is a horrible photo all around. If anything this would make me NOT want to buy the product..
August 8th, 2008 at 5:24 am
i didnt even notice the skin tone thing, i think its just because they dyed her hair so light that its lighteded up her skin tone. i accidentally dyed my hair blonde and omg my skin matched my hair i looked like a different person, hair color can do a lot
August 8th, 2008 at 5:26 am
Okay when they talked about this on E News last night they actually showed a pic (but didn’t even point it out) from a red carpet or event where her skin tone was very similar to the ad.
And that hair color looks terrible. I’m going with a combo of makeup, lighting, and hair color making her look washed out.
August 8th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Beyonce is awesome she is beautiful and a great singer i have her album dangerously in love and i cant wait to play it you rock beyonce
August 8th, 2008 at 8:25 am
pretty sure it’s just a matter of lighting/makeup, not to mention the hair color itself. changing your hair to a significantly lighter color and warmer tone will definitely change your skintone appearance too. i bet if you find a pic of beyonce with similar hair color her skintone would match much closer than the pic of her with dark hair.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Maybe since JayZ has been keeping her under lock and key, she hasn’t been out in the sun much and is getting pale!
Hah! I really think it could even be the hair color that makes the skin appear lighter, as well as what she is wearing.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:01 am
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00391/Beyonce_Knowles_200_391180a.jpg
http://info2know.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/beyonce.jpg
Just a couple of examples where she looks more similar to the lighter picture than the darker. It is rare that we see Beyonce with dark brown/black hair. It is almost always golden/light brown, which accentuates her naturally light skin.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:12 am
It’s just a case of Photoshop. Someone was adjusting the levels to get the hair color perfect, and they were too lazy to de-select Beyonce’s face and neck. No racist conspiracy. Case closed.
August 8th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I think she looks so much better with darker hair! The blond hair looks fake!
August 8th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
A different hair color makes your skin look lighter or darker… when my hair is black I look EVEN whiter than I already am… and I think that they would admit to it after being called out on it.
August 9th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
She’s been doing chemical peels and/or laser resurfacing… After a long period of time, it will lighten skin tone - it removed pigment.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
It does look like some of the (usual) chocolate brown of her skin tone has been replaced with a golden brown. Either way, I wonder if this will have any effect on sales for L’Oréal Paris, better or worse.
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
I’ve looked at the other links provided and she looks nothing like what she looks like in the add. Even when her hair is really light.
Even when they use black people in adds. It’s always the lighter skinned people of color that are chosen. Or the darkest person they can find. But Beyonce is a naturally lighter-skinned person of color. And I noticed it more in her video for “Ring The Alarm” where she is crying. At the point she looks exactly like the add.
I don’t believe that they lightened her skin. She is usually tanned and when people see her in pictures with her natural skin color it seems to be catching them off guard. But they need to stop the madness.
And that hair color is gross. If they want you to buy a product. They should put out the best possible image they can. And this picture is not it.