An “unflattering” picture of Beyoncé performing at the Super Bowl’s halftime show has transformed into a meme rivaling McKayla Maroney’s now-iconic “Not Impressed” scowl.
After Beyoncé’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, emailed Buzzfeed earlier this week to ask that the site “respectfully change” several images of her client to “some better photos” from the halftime show, her attempt backfired in epic proportions.
Buzzfeed published the email, and in the Internet phenomenon known as the Streisand Effect, one image in particular circulated so virulently it became an instant meme.
The original seven images that Yvette Noel-Schure asked Buzzfeed to remove were included in a list of “The 33 Fiercest Moments From Beyoncé’s Halftime Show”.
Yvette Noel-Schure wrote: “As discussed, there are some unflattering photos on your current feed that we are respectfully asking you to change.
“I am certain you will be able to find some better photos. The worst are #5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 19 and 22.”
Since the email became public on Monday, internet users have been trying to come up with ways to make Beyoncé’s “unflattering” facial expressions even more unflattering via Reddit and other social media platforms.
An “unflattering” picture of Beyoncé performing at the Super Bowl’s halftime show has transformed into a meme
So far, Beyoncé has been turned into a bloody zombie, a “She Hulk”, Conan’s wife, and an Olympic weightlifter.
More creative types have created GIFs dedicated to her “fierce” poses.
One in particular shows Beyoncé’s limbs contracting into her torso, before she shoots off like a turtle with a rocket launcher attached to her leather bodysuit.
And another puts dumbbells in Beyoncé’s hands, reinventing her as a bodybuilder.
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The New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles has banned smiling during license photos so that their new facial-scanning software can identify drivers more easily.
But the ban, which took effect in January, has many drivers scowling, complaining that they’re entitled to pose how they wish.
“Your picture means a lot; it’s who you are,” said Velvet McNeil, 38, of Sicklerville, N.J., to the Philadelphia Daily News.
“Why should we all look like androids, looking mopey? I know there are some people who don’t have good driver’s licenses, but I actually keep all mine.”
The New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles has banned smiling during license photos so that their new facial-scanning software can identify drivers more easily
Velvet McNeil went in to renew her license last week in Cherry Hill, but left when she was told to stop flashing her pearly whites.
Mike Horan, spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, explained that the new software will help catch identity thieves.
“This helps us weed out fraud,” he said. For example, if someone poses for a new portrait, but it doesn’t match the old one, investigators are notified.
The software works best when there are consistent facial expressions.
“To get an accurate photo, you don’t want an excessively expressive face in the photo,” he said.
Slight smiles, he said, are fine, but “Hey-I-won-the-lottery-type smiles” are not.
Other states like Delaware and Pennsylvania also have the software, but they allow smiling. New Jersey residents will just have to not grin – and bear it.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia have unlocked a secret code written on everyone’s face which reveals when people are lying.
Scientists have discovered for the first time, five tell-tale muscle groups that control facial expressions, activate differently when we are trying to deceive.
They based their study on more than 23,000 frames of television footage from 52 people emotionally pleading to the public for the return of a missing relative – half of whom were eventually convicted of murdering that person.
The first study of its kind to focus on so-called “high-stakes” emotional deception, discovered that even the most convincing of actors cannot control their facial muscles.
The paper – called Darwin the Detective: Observable Facial Muscle Contractions Reveal Emotional High-Stakes Lies – looked for emotional “leakage”, particularly via those facial muscles which are harder to control – particularly during stressful events or when great concentration is required to maintain a lie.
“Specifically, the <<grief>> muscles, the corrugator supercilli – located around the eyebrow – and depressor anguli oris – between the chin and corner of the lips – were more often contracted in the faces of <<genuine>> rather than <<deceptive pleaders>>,” researchers from the University of British Columbia found.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia have unlocked a secret code written on everyone’s face which reveals when people are lying
Researchers found subtle contraction of the zygomatic major – which runs from cheekbone to the mouth – activated during masking smiles, and full contraction of the frontalis – the brow – which flexed during failed attempts to appear sad, “were more commonly identified in the faces of deceptive pleaders”.
The study said: “During the critical lie, told by each deceptive murderer, upper face surprise and lower face happiness were likely to be expressed, attributed to the failed attempt to appear sad and leakage of happiness.
“Deception – a fundamental aspect of human communication – often is accompanied by the simulation of unfelt emotions or the concealment of genuine emotions to correspond to the false message…
“Given limited cognitive resources and the difficulty of necessary multi-tasking during deception, we suggest that emotional leakage is particularly likely to occur when the lie is complex and/or associated with strong emotions to be concealed or falsified.”
The study concluded “findings support the notion that the human face is indelibly stamped with the tale of our humble origin and attempts to mask our emotions are likely to fail when engaging in a consequential act of deception”.
