If you hardly recognize Beyonce in the new promo picture for her latest album '4' you're not alone. The singer is drawing criticism for the photo that shows her with skin a few shades lighter than she actually is.
The singer was also accused of something similar when she appeared in a 2008 ad for Loreal.
"It’s like, Again? Are we here again? I think in a lot of ways shes culpable because there’s history there," Lincoln Anthony Blades, founder of ThisIsYourConscience.com told the New York Daily News. "She's not saying explicitly you have to lighten your skin, but it does carry that inherent message,"
The controversial new photo shows a blonde Beyonce reclining on a leopard-print couch wearing a black knit monokini. If her name wasn't prominently displayed on the picture you might not know it was her. Some argue that her lighter than normal complexion in the picture could be the result of bright lighting.
Beyonce also drew criticism for a 2011 photograph that showed her out shopping in Los Angeles. In that picture she also looked much lighter than normal.
Writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown said at the time that the singer was causing harm to the self esteem of black and Asian kids.
"Too many black and Asian children grow up understanding the sad truth that to have dark skin is to be somehow inferior," Yasmin wrote in the Daily Mail. "Of course, black and Asian parents work hard to give their children a positive self-image and confidence in their appearance, despite the cultural forces stacked against them. "But when black celebrities appear to deny their heritage by trying to make themselves look white, I despair for the youngsters who see those images."
Is this a big deal about nothing? Or should Beyonce make sure this doesn't happen in future photographs?
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