Whitewashing in beauty is a phenomenon in the intersection of the fashion industry, digital photography, mass media, marketing and advertising.
This is not to be confused with blackface, which is when a person who is not Black attempts to portray a darker skin tone with makeup or digital editing.
[2] More people of color are being represented in the industry as of late, but whitewashing remains a prevalent issue that can affect self-image of young children whose races have been marginalized in film.
Knowles' skin was digitally retouched to appear lighter in Elle than in Essence, which is targeted at African American women.
Other examples include celebrities such as Halle Berry, Brandy, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Freida Pinto, Jennifer Lopez, Tyra Banks, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Gabourey Sidibe and Queen Latifah, in which these figures were subjected to skin lightening during the editing stage of promotional photoshoots.
In the 2014 film Aloha, directed by Cameron Crowe, Emma Stone (a white actress) was cast for the role of Captain Allison Ng, a woman who was partially Hawaiian.
An example that dates back to 2007 but still endures heavy criticism in 2022 is the biopic film A Mighty Heart which was directed by Michael Winterbottom.
Speculations on why a black actor wasn’t cast to portray the real life Mariane Pearl began to occur.
A white actress portraying a black woman in a biopic film is whitewashing the beauty standards of the real life Mariane Pearl.
[16] The reasons for altering skin tone in advertisements are believed to be primarily marketing purposes, more specifically directly appealing to whiter ethnicities, which are generally the strongest target groups in consumer-driven areas such as Europe and America.
[22] The media does not always give an accurate view of the races that they are depicting, resulting in a diminishment of self-confidence in African American children.
Nelson states that children interpret the altering of skin color in the beauty industry in a negative way, and can develop a viewpoint that they are "unattractive" and "undesirable".