About Young BW Determined to Live Well

After being a faithful reader of various blogs dedicated to positively influencing black women, I recognized quite a few young black women in their teens, 20's, and 30's who were touched by the message as much as myself. This blog is my attempt to reach out and connect with young black women on issues we may be facing at a very transitional time in our lives. I encourage all, irrespective of age, class, origin, etc. to participate in the discussions and brainstorming sessions we have. I look forward to the potential of this blog and hope to hear from Young Black Women Determined to Live Well like myself!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Many Shades of Kelly Rowland...What motivates us?

Hello Beautiful Young Black Women Determined to Live Well! I hope the summer has been treating you as kindly as it has been treating me. I don't know about your feelings toward sun damage, but I have been living and breathing sunblock since the beginning of June. SPF 30 or higher and nothing less! Protect the pretty, even if they say our skin ages most gracefully compared to women of different ethnicities.

Now, on to what I originally intended to discuss. While searching online for images of Kelly Rowland, I came upon a picture of her that seems fairly recent. She posed for the cover of a magazine. But, what immediately jumped out to me, was how pale this beautiful brown-skinned girl appeared. Take a look at the photo for yourselves:
I am fully aware of this magazine, and the majority of it's readership are other minorities. With that being said, I couldn't help but wonder why no one has said anything about how light they made her on this cover...I am sure you all remember the commentary many people gave about this ad:
So....why the silence about Kelly's cover? Take a look at other magazine covers of Ms. Rowland, including one from the same publication:




And to complicate things further, here is an interesting comparison:
Kelly is made to look lighter than her known to be fair complexioned pal Beyonce...
I am curious to know what the concept was for the Vibe Cover of Kelly? Was it some major interrogation that had her burning up under ultra bright lights? What people choose to place on the cover of magazines is done for the sole purpose of selling as many copies as possible to the consumer population. Whatever the case, I think all who would protest the Loreal ad of Beyonce should take a look at this cover of Kelly and ask, is it not the same thing? Whatever motivated them to protest Beyonce's ad, for some reason, is not applying to Kelly's cover? Am I the only person who sees the glaringly obvious? What say you?
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3 comments:

  1. ToniJuly 30, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    I actually don't read VIBE and haven't gone anywhere near it so I wasn't aware of what happened. I have no explanation for it, especially given her other cover. I guess they figured she wasn't "sexy" enough, but then why couldn't she be sexy at her natural skin shade?

    Food for thought indeed.

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  2. MeenaAugust 1, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    My sentiments exactly. I am not a regular reader of the publication, but Kelly Rowland has a similar skin shade to my own and I do admire the way her makeup is done. After seeing the cover, I felt it was a clear case of brown-girl given extremely horrible lighting for the purpose of lightening her skin. I first thought someone took a picture of the cover and she was so light because of the flash. But that is as light as they made her...The other publications aside from JET, KING, and the other VIBE cover, are all marketing to a predominantly white audience who seem to find beauty in her naturally dark complexion as it is. But I hear no one openly objecting to how light they made her.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 12, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    Same old tired paper bag test garbage that the Black community has been doing to dark-skinned sistas for years.

    Stupid magazines.

    ReplyDelete

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