I'm not saying that L'Oreal DIDN'T lighten her skin tone, but there is another possibility. A former coworker of mine is a very light-skinned African-Canadian. But if she went on vacation to a sunny climate, she'd come back and would be a LOT darker.

If you look at several pictures of Beyonce Knowles, you'll see that her skin tone varies pretty widely. It could just be that the L'Oreal shoot took place when Ms. Knowles hadn't been seeing any sun in awhile. Combine that with bright studio lighting and a layer of foundation thick enough to withstand the aforementioned lighting, and that could be what happened.

I've read that they often darken skin tones on Caucasian models in order to keep the looking tanned and not washed-out by the lights... my guess is that they just *didn't* do that particular bit of editing to that photograph, leaving her looking what might have been a very accurate-to-that-moment color, but pale next to the fake-tanned white girls who frequently appear in such ads.

But they put WAY TOO MUCH CREAM IN THAT COFFEE!!!

One subject can take a thousand different hues given a thousand different variables of camera, lighting and (normal, non-cosmetic, non-nefarious) processing.

L'Oreal sells hair dyes in a large variety of shades. They often use the same model for multiple shades, but use photo lightening/darkening to change the hair in the picture to match the shade being sold.

Certainly you'll notice that Beyonce's hair as well as her skin are lightened in this advertisement. The skin color change may have been a side effect of changing the hair color.

Shine enough light on anyone and they will lighten up.

Ignorance of the technologies is not cool.

Photography and video use lights because reality doesn't look real in the final product. IT is subjective, not objective.

Look for racism elsewhere - like any article in Salon about Obama.

What's puzzling to me about this is that I probably wouldn't have even recognized Beyonce. Doesn't that kind of kill the whole point of hiring a celebrity?

Not only did they make her too white, they made her too yellow. Modeling is all about tinkering with the lighting to get the effects you want, but ugh, they definitely didn't do her any favors this time. :p

but then, if they are trying to promote a blond hair dye- why not go for the subconscious jugular of why you'd want to be blond in the first place

... and it can take all sorts of forms. Skin is lightened or darkened. Hair color tweaked. Contrast adjusted.

And this is to say nothing of the effect of different studio lighting conditions, to say nothing of the exposure the photographer was trying to achieve.

Having lightened her hair, it's not surprising that the photo editor played with skin tone to find one that worked well with the new hair color.

Whether this is appropriate or not, well, that's another question, but it's really part of the much broader question of photo retouching in general. I'd refer anyone curious about the subject to Lauren Collins article in the May 12th 2008 New Yorker on Pascal Dangin for a good primer. The article also includes a pair of photos - retouched and unretouched - which are eye-opening, although they're not reprinted in the online version of the article.

Hey, you know who whitewashes Beyonce? BEYONCE. She colours her hair blonde and straightens it, constantly bleaches her skin (oh please, look at candids compared to her own promo material), wears blue and gray contacts, had a nose job to thin her nose, etc. She does more to whiten herself than L'Oreal ever could.

This reminds me of the Tommy Lee Jones MIB character reading the rags to determine what's happening, except when Mr. Jones did it, it was funny.

It might not have been done with Photoshop – but I really don’t see how using old fashioned techniques like casting too much light on her or using heavy make-up is any better. Let’s not pretend this was just a quick snap shot that only a couple of people looked at before it was released. L’Oreal knew just what they were doing.

I know black people tan or get washed out by a flash and I know it’s more then cool for us all to play with the color of our hair and make-up – but this photo crosses those lines. I feel like they made her look white because white is 'better' and they're trying to sell a product to make you 'better.' Icky.

Right, but the thing is, Beyonce has been bleaching and straightening her hair (or at least wearing long, straight, blonde wigs) for YEARS and always wears light-coloured contacts; lightening her skin in this picture looks somewhat more normal so it doesn't contrast with her otherwise white features.

And "playing with make-up and hair" is one thing; consistently whitifying yourself is another. If I ever do the blonde white-girl equivalent of what Beyonce does, I expect to be made fun of. My background is Norwegian, and I'm naturally blonde with gray-green eyes; I like to change up my look often and sometimes wear light blue contacts and colour my hair a darker brown. It still looks well within my natural range, and no one who doesn't know me is really the wiser.

Were I to slap on a pound of tanner, an Afro wig, and dark brown contacts, my friends (and enemies!) would never, ever let me live it down. Beyonce, and many other black celebrities, straighten and lighten their hair, bleach their skin, wear blue or green contacts, shave down their Af-Am noses, etc. L'Oreal certainly isn't to blame for that.

She's modeling and they/she did something to alter her appearance? I'm shocked!

Having said that, she looks waaaay hotter on the left (darker) picture.

Maybe the question is: did L'Oréal do this to Beyoncé's photo, or did Beyoncé do it to herself? And would that change any of the criticism and opinions (I think, the idea that 'Black people would want to become more like Whites because White is seen as better' or something like that)?