Elle Magazine decided to feature Indian actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the cover of its Indian edition of the magazine.
They also digitally altered the photos of Aishwarya so that she looks totally Caucasian – white – bleached! Apparently Elle is in the habit of making its non-white models appear lighter than they are – so this is no change for them.
In September this year, black actress Gabourey Sidibe appeared on the cover of the U.S. magazine with a much paler complexion. On that occasion Elle claimed it had not altered the Precious star’s skin any more than that of the other models photographed alongside her.
Readers however are apparently furious over what they see as a racist move on Elle’s part. They are saying things like “it appears that Elle thinks that darker skin is something to be ashamed of.”
We do not know the truth – does Elle think that ‘white is right’ or are these changes to skin tone merely a coincidence? We do know however that if Elle is making aesthetic considerations in lightening the skin tone of non-white models then their behavior is definitely racist. What do you think?
