When Covergirl announced that Sofia Vergara was their newest Covergirl, I thought it was great. She's gorgeous with a bangin, curvy body and she's funny as hell on Modern Family. But over the past few months I've become increasingly aware of the fact that Sofia's Covergirl ads look a bit...off.
At first I thought they just looked a bit odd because they'd photoshopped her so much, she didn't look like herself. But then I realized all her Covergirl ads had a clear trend. She didn't look like herself because she looked white washed. Covergirl is clearly putting harsh lighting on her, using lighter makeup than her natural skin tone, and photoshopping the crap (or rather, the Latina) out of her. She looks like a pretty brunette, but she sure as shit doesn't look like her Columbian self. Exhibit A.
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| Barely even recognized her here |
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| This one's probably the most natural looking one. At least her skin tone isn't ridiculously light. |
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| Whoops. Where'd that golden glow go? |
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| Pretty freakin white |
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| Who the heck is that? |
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| Ok, this one is from afar, so I'll cut it some slack. |
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| I didn't feel all that motivated to write this post until I flipped open my Marie Claire and saw this latest SV Covergirl ad. Come on. I couldn't even believe this was her. She's as pale as Emma Stone here. |
Lots of magazines and makeup companies have gotten flack for white washing their models. And they always say "Oh it's the lighting," or "We wanted to highlight the makeup." Bullshit. Why pick a Black/Latina/whatever model just so you can make her look White? What's the point, if you're not showing how your makeup really looks on a woman of color? Why not highlight her golden skin tone and gorgeous Columbian look? When you run an ad campaign that turns someone like Sofia Vergara into a whitey, it sends the wrong message.
I could go on and on about this. It reminds me of one of my best friends from grad school, who's from India. She has gorgeous dark skin, but in India, dark skin is associated with lower class. So my friend is always trying to stay out of the sun, and has even tried skin-lightening products. It's absolutely ridiculous. She's a beautiful girl and doesn't need that crap. And ads like the ones above just perpetuate this mindset.
I'll end by saying that Covergirl needs to take a hint from Estee Lauder:
Oh, and another random reason why I don't like Covergirl. They make a pretty girl like Taylor Swift look like a rat. Now that takes some doing:
What do you think? Am I totally blowin it out my ass right now, or have you been noticing this too?
