Whitewashing (beauty)

Whitewashing in beauty is a phenomenon in the intersection of fashion industry, digital photography, mass media, marketing and advertising. It describes a situation in which the skin tone of non-white women (less often of men) – when depicted in magazine covers, advertisements, commercials, music videos, etc. – is, digitally retouched or physically modified to appear whiter. Whitewashing can also present itself in the alteration of hair texture to resemble Eurocentric beauty ideals of straight hair.

Probably the most cited and notorious example of beauty whitewashing is a L'Oreal advertising campaign featuring Beyoncé Knowles; other examples include celebrities Halle Berry, Brandy, Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Freida Pinto, Jennifer Lopez, Tyra Banks, Leona Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Gabourey Sidibe and Queen Latifah, among others.

Typically, women primarily use products to lighten their skin, but in many cases men also do. Former professional baseball star, Sammy Sosa admitted to using skin bleaching cream in an interview with “Primer Impacto” of the Univision Spanish network. Sammy Sosa said, “it’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some… It’s a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I’m not racist, I live my life happily.”

The photo- and video-sharing app Snapchat also attracted public criticism in 2016 for whitewashing in its photo filters. A particular target of this outcry was the use of words such as "beautify" and "pretty" associated with the skin-lightening filters.

...
Wikipedia