Beyonce in L'Oreal Ad With Lighter Skin

Beyoncé Looks Whiter — Has L'Oréal Gone Beyond the Pale?

August 7, 2008

Is it just me, or is Beyoncé looking a little . . . whiter? TMZ found this comparison of the singer in real life, compared to her appearance in an ad for L'Oréal. Seems pretty obvious to me that she's been lighted and heavily retouched — which is no shock, considering the brand's earlier Photoshopping nightmare — but I'm not loving the "lighter is prettier" message it's sending. Do you think this much of a change goes too far?

Source

Beyonce Knowles L'Oreal

77 Comments

2 years 28 weeks

i am not surprised most people in the Hollywood are doing it.

3 years 35 weeks

There is a certain creepiness to it, I don't know why they feel the need to lighten black women's skin and straighten and bleach their hair. ...? Just get someone else and preserve the natural beauty

3 years 47 weeks

I wonder if it wasn't partially strong lighting

Rashaan 4 years 3 weeks

I think they wanted her to look like white girls or half blooded something like that ! and that's so sad coz anyway we'll know how real is Beyonce...BLACK ! In my opinion she's not esthetic on LOREAL pix ! White gurls are gorgeous, black gurls too, asian , indian,etc ! no need to transform the heritage beauty :)

Jeliah 4 years 38 weeks

For me its less about marketing and trying to make her look whiter to appeal to a wider market or any of the frenzied rumors and more to do with maybe a less aware retouch artist. Im my work I see this all the time, and it drives me nuts. Im sure if you google retouching and see before and afters you will find that there are some retouch artist who not only end up making ppl with tan or darker skin lighter but white ppl look even lighter too. Combine that with lighter hair colour which gives an illusion of lighter skin....I always thought Nicole Kidman looks ghostly sick since she went pale blonde. ;)

kcwebgirl 4 years 40 weeks

as a darker brown chick it annoys me that the message that white is right still permeates our culture. guess what, it's not that important. i would never pass the brown paper bag test and i don't want to be part of a circle that puts too much emphasis on it. i wish she had stood up to them and refuse to let them hid the beauty of her true color. but then, loreal wasn't made for women of color anyway so whatever!

spicyaroma 4 years 40 weeks

Beyonce's beautiful! Why change anything about her???

juicylove 4 years 40 weeks

did they give her a photoshopped nose too? brutal. why do people honestly think lighter is better? soo weird

juicylove 4 years 40 weeks

did they give her a photoshopped nose too? brutal. why do people honestly think lighter is better? soo weird

sldc 4 years 40 weeks

I think this still looks like Beyonce, but I prefer her natural skin tone. I am pretty sure no matter what her hair colour that she wears lace front wigs. While I do not think altering your own looks needs to be a statement about your pride (or lack therof) in your own ethnicity, I think L'oreal did not need to mess with her lovely skin tone.

lattegoodness 4 years 40 weeks

Even if the lighting was conducive to her looking like a white girl, that still doesn't explain how she looks NOTHING like she does in real life sans photoshopping. L'Oreal is clearly lying on this front. If you're gonna do it, just own up to it... first time I saw the ad I thought it was some white girl who vaguely looked like Beyonce. BOYCOTT! :mob:

JaimeLeah526 4 years 40 weeks

I pointed this ad out to my husband before I even read this and we both noticed how much lighter she was and how it appears that her nose is changed.

ponyluv 4 years 41 weeks

look how light she looks here! http://www.dlisted.com/node/27627

Sarahab145 4 years 41 weeks

i'm in the same boat as sarapuffy. these things are very set up, they compare the picture of beyonce where she looks as dark as she can possibly be and compared it to this. hasnt anyone noticed how in all these commercials, they shine the brightest possible light on these people to make them look radiant? i'm not so sure about this one..

hlisa 4 years 41 weeks

The blonde Beyonce is not one of my favorite incarnations, but as I learned from some friends of colour - and stated by glofriend, above - Skin colour can change dramatically for everyone when exposed to the sun. I like to point people to Dove's website www.campaignforrealbeauty.com - There is a link to films near the upper right corner of the page. Check out "Evolution" - It shows the transformation of a model into an ad layout. Nothing surprising until they get to PhotoShop.
Whether it is the apparent lightening of Beyonce's complexion or the elongation of a model's neck - the whole re-touching thing (beyond covering up a zit) is pretty sad to me.

--Natalie-- 4 years 41 weeks

Oh!! Of course it is!! And she looks veeery bad in the second pic!! It's a very sad thing...

xoxoxx 4 years 41 weeks

Oh wait, another thing. Has anyone considered that the lighting of the set could have played a role in this? Depending on the lighting, the colouring of the subject can be lighter or darker than usual. Hell, I know I look pale as soon as the flash of a camera goes off in my face. That said, L'oreal could actually be telling the truth on this one. Still doesn't change the fact that their packaging = crap. Just sayin. ;]

xoxoxx 4 years 41 weeks

I don't see the big deal, really. Think about it. We all get paler during the winter, and tan during the summer months; its not like our skin tones DON'T change, because they do. In the end, its just another bad photoshop job, courtesy of a brand that isn't even worth spending money on.

me n myself 4 years 41 weeks

every color is beautiful, better not to change it

caryatid 4 years 41 weeks

ok, explain this to me then: http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t39/marhabaa/make%20up/beyonce.jpg different skin color there also?? i hate photoshopping.

RockAndRepublic 4 years 41 weeks

More than likely she knew. This is very common for Beyoncé. I believe she knew what was up.

Yeah, She was more then aware. Hell, if people knew what went down in Destiny's child and why Farrah left, this wouldn't come as a surprise.

juliarose23 4 years 41 weeks

beyonce is still pretty, but i more worried about the message they are trying to send...what was wrong with her in the first place that they had to change it so much?

glofriend 4 years 41 weeks

As a very light skinned black woman, who just got really, really dark on my arms and face (2nd degree sunburn), I can see why L'Oreal says no lightening was done. All it takes is a few tanning moments for Beyonce's skin color to change! She could be lighter in a month, if she stays out of the sun. Both photos could be legitimate.

chiquita29 4 years 41 weeks

She looks like a different person. Even her nose looks a little different to me. I think she looks prettier in the first photo, not the ad. She looks kinda washed out in the ad.

POPSUGAR Beauty 4 years 41 weeks

Update: L'Oréal says they didn't lighten anything.

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