Beyonce Photos: Un-Photoshopped Pics Leaked Online, Spark Uproar
While it is common knowledge that the use of Photoshop is prevalent in the advertising industry, people still react when they realize just how much retouching is really done to present the perfect faces and bodies gracing all types of advertising media.
A case in point was the recent leakage of more than 200 alleged unretouched photos of Beyoncé for her L'Oreal 2013 ad campaign.
The leaked photos that appeared on a fan site called "The Beyoncé World" showed the 33-year-old Beyoncé, one of whose hit tunes is titled "Flawless," with all her alleged imperfections. These included the hint of acne, her uneven skin tone, and the lines and pores on her face under very thick foundation. Viewed side by side with the actual photos that were released as part of the campaign, the original and unretouched images appeared to show that Photoshop weaved its magic to transform Beyoncé into the flawless image shown in the make-up ad.
The posting of the leaked images drew angry responses from many Beyoncé fans, prompting the fan site to remove the photos. The fans defended their idol, with some saying the photos just show that Beyoncé is human after all, and that even if there are a lot of imperfections on her face, she is still naturally beautiful.
The incident also called to mind at least two other celebrities – Justin Bieber and Cindy Crawford – whose unretouched photos were also leaked. In his Calvin Klein ad, Bieber was shown with an enhanced and more buff body than what his unretouched photos showed. Crawford's unretouched photos for a Marie Claire magazine shoot also caused some debate.
As of Thursday, Beyoncé had not yet commented on her leaked photos. It could be recalled that in 2013, Beyoncé had an issue with H&M when the clothing company photoshopped her curvy body in an ad campaign. She refused to give the green light for the release of the ad with her photoshopped photos. The company was eventually forced to release the campaign ad without the enhanced images.
This wasn't the first time L'Oreal was accused of too much photo enhancements. The company was earlier criticized for lightening Beyoncé's skin for its Feria ad.