Beyonce Lightened For Ad? L'Oreal Denies

NEW YORK — Cosmetics giant L'Oreal is denying it lightened Beyonce's skin tone in an ad.

"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 hair color," the Paris-based company said in a statement sent to the Associated Press through the singer's representative.

The ad is in the current edition of Elle magazine.

L'Oreal, the maker of Garnier hair care and Lancome cosmetics, is the world's largest cosmetics maker.

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

Beyonce has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 2001.

Comments

[Sarahjan]

Theda
That is really the point! Beyonce wears a fake hair, she know the black community knows it, L’Oreal knows it. The question is: Is L’Oreal using Beyonce whitened image to sell this shampoo to white American consumers? The answer is plainly no. So, who is the target consumer for this ad?

[Rosey]

Beyonce is an attractive woman.... Why they needed to lighten her up is beyond me? And it is patently obvious they did!

[BlueTongue]

Come on. It is an ad, not a news photo. An ad is a lie from its inception. The trouble is with a society that values such a stupid product and buys it because a celebrity supposedly uses on her (fake) hair.

[baabaan]

They lighten the black girls and darken the white ones. Nothing shocking, don't be such bigots. Only racists see racism everywhere.

[situationcritical]

Exactly. As a fashion photographer I darken white skin and lighten dark skin (in the exposure when I shoot film) to get great skin tone.

[monty]

Oh who gives a sh*t! I've had photos taken where I looked a lot whiter than I really am, so, big whoop!

[JudyMillerDubyaAgent]

Dear Monty,
How is that possible?

[Rosey]

Well if it is not lightening her, it certainly is the most intriguing lighting on a photo shoot. Hmmm! Why not just admit it?

[Theda]

I think they're trying to make her look as "light" and "white" as possible. Also, that's not her real hair. Beyonce admits she wears wigs all the time. And hair weaves, too.

[Lalita]

L'Oreal got in trouble for using fake eyelashes on Penelope Cruz in an ad for (wait for it...wait for it...) mascara.

Shameful.

I do think L'Oreal could and should have used her real hair if they, in fact, did not.

By the by, did it seem to anyone else that they had over-Photoshopped her image to be much thinner. She looked like Ally McBeyonce.

[Theda]

That's SO typical of an advertising campaign......wearing false eyelashes while endorsing a mascara product!
False advertising.
When I see those mascara ads in magazines, it's so obvious that the models are wearing fake eyelashes.

[gloriar8]

I am sure she had the final say in what pixs they would use and she allowed the heavily touched up one. Beauty comes in all shades, not just white. And then to have no comment. Sounds like self hate. What a pity, she was beautiful all on her own. The whitewash pix looks yukkie.

[AlAkbar]

geez, how many of you seemed to look at pics, read ONLY the headline, and then think this piece is about lightening her HAIR?? it's really not a very long article! lol

looks to me like they while could have lightened skin tone post photography, they prob didnt. go compare any 5 random pics of her from either hard copy prints or online images - they are all likely to be very different from one another.

[KPinSEA]

Um .... their whole frickin' business is based on letting you pick an artificial appearance for your skin.

[Propeity]

She looks quite beautiful. Who cares what color her skin looks. We are living in an age, where a different hair color on someone like Asley Simpson or Nickey Hilton, can really make a photoshoot come alive.. Why is skin color so fixed in nature that it can't be varied like hair color?

Racism. I think not. Racism would be refusing to hire her in the first place.

[FanofPaine]

This has a lot to do with colorization, a horrible dividing factor in the black community and other communities of color. The practice of desiring "whiter" skin and having "whiter" skin being used as a privilege has long divided darker and lighter skinned people. That said, I think the color has more to do with her hair color than being lightened. Recently, I looked at a picture of Kerry Washington with dark hair and flipped two pages forward to a picture of her with honey colored hair (both ads in a magazine) and noticed the difference the two pictures had on her skin color because of her hair.

[CeeLee]

So what!??
Changin the hair color with a hair weave is EZ.

[Sarahjan]

L’Oreal racism is on record and public.
http://www.cosmeticsdesign-europe.com/Financial/L-Oreal-receives-fine-in-racism-case

[Lalita]

Nice catch, Sarahjan!

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Who cares? Can't see it with the face in the pillow.

[robXdion]

This reminds me of the middle aged white woman in Arkansas suing her town because a full body billboard of Beyonce was getting too much attention.