She faced controversy back in 2008 when her skin appeared shades lighter in an advertisement. But it appears singer Beyonce has not learned her lesson.

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A promotional picture has emerged of the pop princess looking much paler than her usual colour. The new photo, taken before the 30-year-old fell pregnant with her newborn daughter, are being used to re-advertise her fourth album, 4, which was released last year.

In the seductive pose, Beyonce dons a blonde wig and lies on a leopard-print couch, wearing a skimpy black crochet monokini. Experts told The Sun the appearance may have been down to lighting used in the studio. However, this is not the first time the wife of rapper Jay-Z is accused of appearing to ‘lighten’ her skin.’

It has been alleged that in the early days of award-winning band Destiny’s Child, her father Mathew Knowles had persuaded her to use skin treatments to remain the lightest-complexioned member of the successful girl group. And some commentators have expressed fears, that these images of the superstar singer — who is famous for her honey-toned hair and complexion, could have the effect of making darker-skinned  girls ashamed of how they look.

In August 2008, cosmetics giant L’Oreal was accused of ‘whitewashing’ the star in an advert by digitally lightening her skin. And last February, a very blonde Beyonce stepped out, wearing a black minidress which revealed unusually pale skin on the star.

At the time writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown accused the singer of 'betraying all Black and Asian women.' She wrote in The Daily Mail: “Too many black and Asian children grow up understanding the sad truth that to have dark skin is to be somehow inferior.”

At the time, the cosmetics house denied that the pictures had been altered in such a way but The New York Post newspaper called the advert ‘shocking’ and accused it of making the singer look like a ‘weird, nearly white version of herself’.

She has not commented on the photos. Beyonce was born and raised in Texas by her African father and mixed-race mother. The singer gave birth to her first child, daughter Ivy Blue Carter, last Saturday in New York.