Thursday, August 7, 2008

Hell "No No No No....."

Beyonce kinda freakumed me out..........


So have y'all seen this picture of her posing for L'Oreal? Its been blowing up the blogs. People are crying foul at the L'Oreal ad for retouching Beyonce to the point that she looks white. I personally had to do a double-take to authenticate this as really Mrs. Shawn Carter herself. I'm not a Beyonce fanatic, nor am I particularly a hater. She has emerged as an international symbol of beauty. However, I personally will fall back on flipping out about this ad. Heres why:
  1. The color palette of the ad itself has Bey Bey wearing white, against a white background.
  2. Bey Bey is in this 3/4 pose, making her nose look quite straight. Plus, there are rumors the girl had a nose job a long time ago. Not L'Oreals Fault.
  3. That freaking hair color! Blondish? That would ash me out too
  4. Beyonce is of African American and Creole descent. Have you seen her mom? Her mother is quite light. Its been said that her mother would send her to tanning salons to look better on stage in her outfits.
  5. Ummm...I don't particularly expect big beauty corporations to have a responsibility to me to represent images of authentic "blackness" when clearly we still have issues denoting what blackness is. Now If I saw this picture and the caption under it said, "Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child is sporting Color Essence #3242", then I would be launching some fireworks...
Okay, if the ad were for a beauty company made by and for black women, like Iman's line or even Carol's Daughter, I would have have a problem. But I have never expected the likes of Revlon (Halle Berry, Major spokesmodel) Covergirl (Tyra Banks, and Rihanna, major spokesmodels) or any of the others to have a responsibility to promote black beauty. I'm being cynical, I know. But lets face it....they don't HAVE TO. All these brands will continue to make money and stay in business, supported by the mainstream who they cater to and those of us who arent so mainstream looking who arent content with standing on the banks of said stream.

I find it it somewhat hypocritical, all of this. I say, Why criticize L'Oreal when I still see black hair and skin care stores selling skin bleach right next to L'Oreal? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've never heard of a protest against CVS or Albertson's for selling Ambi. Why do we criticize L'Oreal for what they may or may have not done to Beyonce with lighting and computer effects when so many darker-skinned women of many races attempt the same in their bathrooms every morning with harsh chemicals??? Im not even going to talk about people who photoshop their own facebook pics or purposefully pick foundation that is three shades too light but just the right shade of ridiculous. Because its easier to blame someone else...the media, culture, the fashion industry, white people in general.....rather than do a gut check and realize that blacks all over the world still hold on to particular notions of beauty.

-KN

2 comments:

Harlemista said...

what about the new theory that L'oreal darkened her up for Essence? I haven't seen it yet, but um, if they did, that would be quite foul...


i think my biggest beef with the ad as that Ms. Knowles-Carter just looks a mess, period. and how is she doing hair ads when she's wearing a lacefront...?

Karen Nicole said...

She does look a mess. Just washed out. Boo.