‘‘Shades of Beauty’’: Examining

the Relationship of Skin Color to Perceptions

of Physical Attractiveness
Cynthia M. Frisby, Ph.D.1

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research project was to investigate the relationship between

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skin color and level of perceived physical attractiveness. Previous research suggested that
skin color plays an important role in how we perceive an individual’s physical attractiveness.
The current study was conducted to determine how influential the role of race is on
perceptions of physical attractiveness. In this study, 79 subjects were asked to evaluate
images of potential endorsers to be used in an upcoming advertising campaign. The images
were those of females of varying skin tones. Data were then collected and analyzed to
determine whether skin tone and level of skin color can in fact influence the physical
attractiveness stereotype.

KEYWORDS: Skin tone, skin color, physical attractiveness, advertising images, African
American images in advertising

A dvertisers commonly use light-skinned black
models to cater to a diverse consumer population. Using
light-skinned black models in advertising may have roots
from when the mulatto population began growing dur-
ing slavery. Mulattos are mixed, with African and
Caucasian blood, and often have lighter skin, straighter
hair, and perhaps lighter eyes than a ‘‘nonmixed black’’ in
America. With society now demanding more diversity in
media, advertisers seem to rely on black models with
some kind of European physical feature to advertise
mainstream products. The present study investigates
the influence of skin tone and color on perceptions of
facial beauty. The question the research addresses is:
Does skin tone influence our perceptions of beauty?
Take Revlon cosmetics, for example. In the early
1990s, Revlon began a campaign using actress Halle
Berry. Berry, the daughter of a white mother and a black
father, was the first African American model for Revlon.
For many black women, however, Berry was not a true
representation of the African American female. Frisby1
found that black women felt that the inclusion of Berry
in the Revlon advertisement was just the advertiser’s way
of using a ‘‘safe’’ black image in their ad. One woman
said, ‘‘I’m looking at the model and saying, that’s not me.
She doesn’t even look like me.’’
The advertisers for Pantene, a hair product, real-
ized that to diversify their target market they must use
different races. One Pantene advertisement shows a
black woman with long flowing hair using the product.
Do white consumers see the black model and assume
that Pantene works only on ‘‘black hair’’? On the other
side, do black women who do not have long straight hair
think that Pantene works only for the ‘‘good’’ hair? With
several mainstream products using black models with
European features, it is believed that the self-esteem of
dark-skinned black women, in particular, is bound to

1
Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri—Columbia,
Columbia, Missouri.
Address for correspondence and reprint requests: Cynthia M.
Frisby, Ph.D., Missouri School of Journalism, University of
Missouri—Columbia, 360 McReynolds Hall, Columbia, MO
65211.
The Changing Definition of Beauty; Guest Editors, C. W. David
Chang, M.D. and Karen H. Calhoun, M.D.
Facial Plast Surg 2006;22:175–179. Copyright # 2006 by Thieme
Medical Publishers, Inc., 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001,
USA. Tel: +1(212) 584-4662.
DOI 10.1055/s-2006-950174. ISSN 0736-6825.
175
176 FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY/VOLUME 22, NUMBER 3 2006
suffer from exposure to light-skinned women in adver-
tisements.2
Keenan3 found that blacks in advertisements had
lighter complexions and more Caucasian features than
those in news editorial photographs. Keenan also dis-
covered that black women in advertisements were
lighter than black men. Leslie4 investigated the chang-
ing image of blacks in advertisements and found sig-
nificant differences in the aesthetic qualities of the
models used. Leslie found that many of the models
used in the advertisements were fair skinned and had
European features. So, although research reveals an
increase in the use of black models and black products,
the trend seems to suggest that the facial appearance
and features tend to be more ‘‘Caucasian-like’’ and are
depicted with Eurotypic features.
‘‘If a Black woman is light-skinned with good hair
and good features, then she’s [‘‘hot’’]. . . . But a dark-
skinned girl with short hair can forget it. And if she has a
big nose, then she should just be a nun. But if she has
long hair and good features, then her skin color can be
overlooked. Long hair really helps out those black ugly
girls.’’—Darryl, a working-class black man, as quoted in
The Color Complex.2
MEDIA AND SKIN COLOR
The most prominent public debate about whether skin
color and skin tone affect audience perceptions was
raised when Time magazine’s June 20, 1994 cover
exhibited a photo-illustration of O.J. Simpson’s Los
Angeles Police Department mug shot. The photo
showed Simpson with darkened skin and darkened razor
stubble5,6 Critics argued that making Simpson’s skin
darker publicly cast him in the stereotypical image of the
menacing black man and that this image could negatively
affect a jury’s perception of him.5,6
African Americans with dark-colored skin have
faced more discrimination in terms of negatively stereo-
typed media images than African Americans with light-
colored skin, who have enjoyed more social favoritism in
the media.7,8 Whether Time magazine editors had a racist
intent or not, many Americans perceived the colored
image to be a race code. Simpson’s visage and ethnicity
were exploited, his complexion manipulated, and his
plight was recast as ‘‘An American Tragedy’’ to sensation-
alize the case and sell more copies of Time magazine.9
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Skin Color
All skin is composed of four substances and has four
colors: brown, yellow, white, and red. Yellow in the skin
is called carotene, red is referred to as hemoglobin, and
brown is called melanin. The presence and amount of
melanin determine differences in skin color and tone.
When people have a great deal of melanin, their skin
looks dark brown. When there is a medium amount of
melanin, skin is referred to as light brown. When there is
a very small amount of melanin, the skin is very light,
almost pale in complexion.
Skin color is highly correlated with other pheno-
typic features—eye color, hair texture, broadness of nose,
and fullness of lips.10 European features are all accorded
higher status both within and beyond the African
American community. These European traits function
along with color in complex ways to ‘‘shape opportuni-
ties, norms regarding attractiveness, self-concept, and
overall body image.’’10 Data obtained in the Thompson
and Keith study also seem to suggest that women with
more Caucasoid features are perceived as more attractive
to the opposite sex and are more successful in their love
lives than women with more Negroid features. Dark-
skinned women, according to this study, are seen as
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occupying the bottom rung of the social ladder, being
least marriageable, and having the fewest options for
higher education and career advancement.
If having dark-colored skin is perceived as neg-
ative or if American consciousness is biased against dark
complexions, how do advertising images of different skin
tones affect judgments and perceptions of attractiveness?
The answer to this question provides important impli-
cations for advertisers.
The following research investigates how light or
dark complexions of women affect potential consumers.
It tests the hypothesis that women with darker skin tone
are judged negatively or as less attractive than the same
women with lighter skin tone.
Research Questions
Because the dominant culture may hold lighter skin tone
as attractive, it is valuable to research the attitudes
toward skin tone and attractiveness. Therefore, the
following hypotheses are proposed:
H1: Photos of persons with lighter skin tones will
receive higher scores for perceived attractiveness
among a sample of participants.
H2: Photos of persons with darker skin tones will
receive lower scores for perceived attractiveness
among a sample of participants.
Physical Attractiveness
The physical attractiveness stereotype has been described
as the tendency for people ‘‘to ascribe socially desirable
personality traits to those who are good looking, seeing
them as more sociable, poised, and well adjusted than
those who are less attractive.’’11 Dion et al12 found that
physical attractiveness stereotypes do exist. In their study

they found that attractive individuals were judged more
socially desirable than unattractive individuals.
Many researchers investigating the physical at-
tractiveness stereotype have come to the conclusion that
people often believe ‘‘what is beautiful is good.’’13 Many
of the basic findings conclude that individuals who
possess attractive facial characteristics are found to be
more favorable than those with lesser attractiveness.
However, very little research has been conducted to
explore the role skin color may have in attributions of
physical attractiveness. The current study was conducted
to determine how influential the role of race is in
perceptions of physical attractiveness. In this study, 79
subjects were asked to evaluate images of potential
endorsers to be used in an upcoming advertising cam-
paign. The images were those of females of varying skin
tones. Data were then collected and analyzed to deter-
mine whether skin tone and level of skin color can in fact
influence the physical attractiveness stereotype.
Conceptualization
Several racial and ethnic studies scholars have agreed
upon definitions for studies in racial and ethnic studies.
Skin tone is defined in the same manner as Keenan3 did
in his study. Taking standards from the beauty industry,
skin tone and color categories are established based on
skin color tones described previously.
Ethnicity in this study is determined by responses
to the demographic information included in the exper-
imental survey. African American participants are iden-
tified by indicating their ethnicity as African American,
Hispanic participants as Hispanic, and so forth. Those
who identify themselves as white or Caucasian are
classified in the same racial group.
METHOD
Measurements
The independent variable, skin tone, serves as a predictor
for the dependant variables of attractiveness and credi-
bility. Specifically, the research is based on survey design.
A photograph of four people was adjusted to three
different levels of darkness in their skin tone by com-
puter software (Adobe Photoshop). Therefore, a total of
12 images were created (e.g., four models
three differ-
ent shades/skin tones). Participants were randomly as-
signed to one of three conditions and were asked the
same set of questions for the four different pictures. The
order of the photographs shown varies: most dark skin
tone, normal tone, and finally lighter tone. By randomly
assigning participants to conditions and showing differ-
ent faces in the same experimental condition, it was
determined that physical fetishes would not be a factor
that might influence or confound the final results.
SHADES OF BEAUTY/FRISBY 177
Participants
The 79 participants in this study consisted of Caucasian
and African American female college students aged 18 to
28 years. Of the 79 participants, 45 were Caucasian and
34 were African American. Of the female participants,
the mean age was 21.42 years. Students received extra
credit for their participation.
Procedure
Participants were told that the purpose of the experiment
was to help a local advertising agency select the right
endorser for an upcoming advertising health campaign
about exercise and nutrition. They were told that the
campaign would be aimed at young women ages 18 to
25. Each participant was given a consent form, a rating
sheet (for data collection), and a booklet containing four
headshots of a female actor or model. The booklet also
contained the supposed advertising copy that was to be
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used in the campaign. The advertising copy was used to
impede hypothesis guessing.
The rating sheet was used to collect demographic
information such as age, gender, and ethnicity as well as
the participants’ ratings of each image’s physical attrac-
tiveness. No traceable information (i.e., name, social
security number, student number) was collected. To
ensure that other confounds—such as products’ brand
names, etc.—were not introduced into the experiment,
four pictures of physically attractive women were iden-
tified and used for experimentation.
Adobe Photoshop was used to change the level of
skin tone for the four models. Skin color was the only
feature manipulated for each model. The designer was
able to use the same picture and, with the help of
technology, manipulated the skin color, leaving facial
features exactly the same. Images were selected from
magazines based on ratings of attractiveness from 20
independent males and females prior to the study. Images
were rated on a scale of 1 to 20 as to how attractive they
were perceived to be by participants. Four images were
then selected on the basis of attractiveness ratings.
As the participants viewed the images in the
booklet, they were asked to complete the information
on the data collection sheet. The data collection sheet
consisted of the endorser credibility and attractiveness
scale. After all the information had been completed and
collected, the subjects were debriefed concerning the real
purpose of the study. The initial results collected from
the data indicate significant effects of skin tone and its
affect on the physical attractiveness stereotype (p < .05).
RESULTS
The results were obtained by running a 3 (skin tone:
light, medium, dark skin)
2 (participant ethnicity:
Caucasian. African American) factorial analysis of
178 FACIAL PLASTIC SURGERY/VOLUME 22, NUMBER 3 2006
Table 1 The Influence of Level of Skin Color on
Perceptions of Beauty
Skin Tone Caucasians African Americans
n ¼ 79 n ¼ 45 n ¼ 34
Pale complexion 3.4 n ¼ 16 3.1 n ¼ 10
Light brown 4.4 n ¼ 15 4.7 n ¼ 12
Dark brown 2.9 n ¼ 14 3.9 n ¼ 12
Note: Attractiveness scale 1 ¼ very unattractive, 5 ¼ very attractive.
Numbers in table represent mean scores for participants’ percep-
tions of the models’ level of physical attractiveness.
Table 2 ANOVA Results for Skin Color and Perceptions
of Physical Attractiveness/Facial Beauty
Dependent Variable Skin Color Mean F p Value
Physical attractiveness Pale 3.2a 21.8 .0001
Light brown 4.5b
Dark brown 3.4a
Note: All ratings were made on Likert scales (ranging from 1 ¼ low to
5 ¼ high); higher numbers indicate greater perceptions of the
model’s attractiveness. Figures in the same column that do not
share the same subscript differ at p < .0001. ANOVA degrees of
freedom ¼ 5/78.
variance (ANOVA) with an a level of 0.05, using
SPSS running on a Mac. There was a significant effect
of skin tone, F(5,41) ¼ 7.33, p < .05.
Hypothesis Tests
Hypothesis 1 tested the idea that lighter skinned models
would positively affect perceptions of beauty. To test this
hypothesis, a multiple ANOVA was conducted with
skin color and participant ethnicity as between-subjects
factors and perceptions of physical attractiveness as the
dependent variable (Tables 1 and 2).
Attractiveness of the Image
A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was
conducted on the attractiveness dependent variable.
Participants were asked to indicate the attractiveness of
the image. The response scale ranged from 1 ¼ very
unattractive to 5 ¼ very attractive. Overall, participants
found the light brown images to be more attractive
(n ¼ 78, M ¼ 4.5, SD ¼ 0.68) than the other manipu-
lated skin tones.
Results show an overall main effect of skin tone,
suggesting that light brown skin color is perceived by
both Caucasian and African American models as more
credible and attractive than models who are pale and
dark skinned, F(2,71) ¼ 14.7, p < .0001. Consistent
with earlier theorizing, images of light brown models
yielded more favorable responses than images featuring
dark skinned or pale models, F ¼ 18.70, p < .01. Con-
sistent with the proposed relationships stated in hypoth-
esis 1, when the participants were asked to evaluate an
individual on the basis of physical attractiveness and
credibility, participants in this study found light brown
models more credible and more attractive than their
counterparts with darker skin.
DISCUSSION
Levels of attractiveness appear to play a significant role
in how we attribute certain characteristics to certain
people. More attractive individuals are more likely to
be ascribed positive characteristics; whereas less attrac-
tive individuals are more likely to be ascribed negative
ones. However, no differences were seen when race was
included. This may suggest that, at least with women,
race is less important than attractiveness level.
Since the mid-1960s, many advertisers have been
in a dilemma regarding the use of blacks in advertise-
ments. Many advertisers considered using blacks in
advertisements to appeal to a growing black target
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audience and market but were concerned that use of
blacks might alienate white consumers. Fortunately for
advertisers and advertising agencies, research shows that
white consumers react to black models in advertisements
in almost exactly the same way as black consumers
react.13
Published studies have measured both white
and black consumers’ reactions to black models fea-
tured in advertisements. The studies have been con-
ducted using different media and different products
and they have measured both attitudes and sales
figures. The studies usually consist of creating iden-
tical advertisements—one version with white models
and another with black models. Advertisements are
shown to groups of consumers who are asked how
they ‘‘feel’’ toward the advertisement. These attitude
scores are then compared to determine how consum-
ers respond to the models.
Even though African American models have
more of a presence in magazines geared toward the
majority, most (nearly all) of the models are lighter
skinned with Eurocentric features.3,4 Surprisingly, this
stereotypical view of African Americans was also de-
picted in the black magazines, Essence and Ebony. The
Eurocentric standards of beauty, particularly the skin
color standard, are still widespread in the United States,
and advertising continues to display them.
The findings of this study should be evaluated in
the context in which the data were elicited. This study
represents a media effects experiment involving manip-
ulations of skin tone. This was not an experiment on the
effects of the creative concept of an advertisement or the
message strategy or execution; if so, the stimuli would
have included copy, a headline, a product or service, and
other information. Had this information been included,
the findings may have been different. The respondents in
this study were potential consumers in a laboratory

environment. The results presented here show that, in a
laboratory environment, held biases toward light brown
skin did influence interpretations about and ratings of
the models’ level of attractiveness.
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