Hailey Bieber’s TIME cover just dropped to celebrate the huge success of her skincare company Rhode. While many fans love the founder’s brand, lifestyle, and commitment to wellness, there was one aspect to the TIME cover’s promotion that rubbed people the wrong way.
However, it’s not Hailey Bieber who fans have an issue with, but rather the questions she was asked.
In a quick social media Q&A with the model, influencer, and founder, Bieber was questioned on what she believed was overrated or underrated in the world of wellness.
From matcha, pilates, and lymphatic drainage massages to therapy and fitness trackers, the star gave her honest insight into what she has and hasn’t tried, and what she stands by in her life.
So, why were fans mad?
Why are fans slamming Hailey Bieber’s TIME cover?
While many fans loved Bieber’s takes on the questions, praising her for her calmness and agreeing with her advice and experience, some were left divided over why these questions were asked at all, especially over questions relating to her business and brand.
“The woman is the cover of TIME magazine and they are asking her about matcha and pilates. Unbelievable,” one fan wrote beneath the post, receiving over 6,000 likes and sparking countless replies in agreement.
When fans responded to this backlash by asking about what else they would ask her, other fans chimed in with: “Her billion dollar business? Perhaps.”
However, amidst this backlash, other fans noted how these fun, game-style questions were relevant to promote Hailey’s cover story as she’s known to be wellness obsessed.
“Her company is about skin care and wellness,” one user wrote. “The questions are in order.”
For many fans of Hailey Bieber, Rhode, and just wellness in general, her responses to the prompts left a lot of people in positive agreement, calling the founder their “wellness queen”, and praising her for her “calm and good energy.”
“Ok I was ready to judge, but actually liked a lot of her answers,” one fan wrote.
“These are all really good takes actually,” another commented.
“I actually strongly agree with this!” another replied.
However, even though asking Bieber to “weigh in” on some of the top wellness trends is sharable, when this video is surrounded by interviews with other TIME100 Companies founders (notably men, like Google CEO Sundar Pichai or MrBeast) who were actually asked about how they built their business, it certainly puts things into perspective.
In the feature article itself, Bieber dives into the innovation and worldbuilding that made Rhode such a success.
Why were these insights not shared?
Watch the Q&A here:
What does the TIME cover article unpack?
In the interview, Bieber unpacks everything from her untraditional path to success, how she launched the brand with Michael D. Ratner (the CEO of OBB Media), and how “storytelling” was at the centre of Rhode from the very beginning.
“We focus on innovation, we focus on formulation, we focus on packaging, we focus on colour story, we focus on imagery, we focus on storytelling,” she said in TIME.
“We focus on inviting you into this whole entire world that really fits into your lifestyle… and I think that goes so far beyond skin care.”
The success of Rhode, that just sold to E.l.f. Beauty for US$1 billion, is a testament to the power of this storytelling.
Ironic that this story wasn’t what Hailey was asked about for the cover’s promotion.
Either way, we’re glad Hailey is getting her flowers for the business empire she has created.
Whether it’s focused on wellness or AI, success is success, and it’s inspiring to see how it can be reached.
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