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rosa—sparks:

OK. I have been working on trying to respond to this ad all day.

I hated this commercial. Beyonce’s True Match foundation ad, by L’oreal, during the Super Bowl.

Why? Why rosa? Why do you hate this ad?

Because Beyonce is represented as an other. She isn’t a black woman, she’s ALSO African American, Native American and French. Why? Her skin tone is her skin tone and she needs foundation to deal with her skin tone? Why you gotta put some caveat on it like, oooh, but she’s ALL THESE THINGS, TOO!?

Unless I’m mistaken, Beyonce is a black woman. And why can’t we just deal with blackness as an identity and identify that, in fact, blackness comes in many shades. THE FUCKING END.

I’m so tired of an asterisk being placed next to someone’s identity. It’s bullshit. Never mind there’s a vague sense of exotification involved here, as though, she’s all these things, and MORE. 

Furthermore, aren’t we toeing the line of shades of blackness and desirability of a lighter shade? Yes, IT’S BEYONCE, so therefore, y’know, she sells shit and most everyone loves her and blah blah, but come ON. Kelly Rowland is a black woman, outstandingly beautiful and if she was in a make up ad, I’m pretty sure no one would run chyron across her face as to the intricasies of her DNA.

Wouldn’t an effective ad be about black women and foundation be to show that blackness is a spectrum and therefore, in a series of ads, Beyonce, Kerry Washington AND Viola Davis can all find foundation in their shitty make up brand that gives them adequate make up coverage?

Blackness is not a condition that has many symptoms. The differences between everyone’s skin colors is sure, important to note, but that goes across for every human on this planet, not just black people. 

This ad feels obnoxious and pushing the envelope of, yet again, light skinned blacks being of a different strata than darker skinned black people. Or that one’s light skin is a trait of multiple racial contributions. I don’t like how that feels. I don’t like what it’s saying. The reality is this is America. At this point, NO ONE, except for people who actually pursue racial purity and that’s horrific, is just one race or creed. We’re all a big mix of all kinds of ethnicities. That’s the construct of our damn country. 

I didnt’t come down with the disease of blackness

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