I came across these magazine covers and it reminded me of the time we were shown the covers of OJ Simpson in class. Both Newsweek and TIME had the same image of Simpson, but TIME portrayed him as much darker. Similarly, both of these covers have the EXACT same image of Beyonce, yet they look entirely different. Glamour magazine has chosen to represent Beyonce as a much darker version of herself. It could also be argued, however, that Joy magazine chose to represent Beyonce as a much whiter version of herself. (see above picture to compare)
Back when we spoke about OJ Simpson's covers, we determined that it seemed TIME had a specific agenda in making OJ seem darker. This thought carried over and made wonder if either of these companies had a specific agenda in altering their images of Beyonce.
I did a little research and came across an interesting article indicating that a Glamour magazine editor had made public apologies for racist remarks the same year the cover came out. I wonder if this darkening of Beyonce was Glamour's attempt to regain control of their "celebrating the beauty of all women" image.
Interestingly enough, this has happened to Beyonce once before. L'Oreal created a campaign where they lightened her skin too much, but they denied any wrongdoing and defended their relationship with Ms. Knowles.
My question here is whether or not you think these magazines had specific agendas in their photoshopping, and if so, what versions of the 'story' are they trying to tell?
I noticed that the magazine images you posted are actually in different languages. I can't recognize them, but I wonder if that had anything to do with portraying Beyonce in her true skin color versus a lighter version. Depending on the audience of the magazine, if the people who speak that language have darker skin, they might be attracted to a magazine that represents people of color. It also might have to do with the articles they have included about her. So interesting though!
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