A humble L’Oréal mascara has found itself at the centre of a huge public controversy, thanks to some not-so-discreet advertising.
The brand probably wasn’t expecting this much coverage when sending their mascara to beauty creators across TikTok. But the advertising and reach of the mascara has exceeded expectations thanks to one video in particular – and not quite for the right reasons.
The creator at the centre of this storm, is Mikayla Nogueira, a TikTok creator who boasts over 15 million followers.
Mikayla, like many other creators this week took to Instagram to share and review the new mascara from L’Oréal – the Telescopic Lift Washable Mascara.
However, things quickly got out of hand when viewers claimed Mikayla had added false lashes in the before and after comparison shots.
Although she denied the claims in her comments section, the rumours quickly spread.
So was this an influencer caught out in a lie? Is this a well-thought-out marketing strategy? Or a truly spectacular mascara that actually does make your lashes look incredible? We may never know.
Soon however the situation blew up when the rest of the beauty community, who are known for their dramatic antics, joined the conversation. Controversial beauty creator James Charles joined the discussion, adding his own “authentic” review of the product.
As did the equally controversial, Jeffree Star who announced that he would return to the Internet and beauty world. “I’ll be BACK to reviewing makeup products next week. These f*****g b*****s can’t stop lying to their audiences and it makes me SICK,” he tweeted before sharing a review of the mascara (which he decided was “cute” and “affordable”).
The drama of the beauty community aside, Mikayla’s original video also raised important discussions about the transparency of sponsored posts.
Mikayla’s ‘review’ was a paid partnership with L’Oréal and the “L’Oréal Paris Partner” label in her video was conveniently hidden behind a caption.
TikTok also requires branded content to be clearly stated by adding #Ad in the video’s caption – which Mikayla failed to do.
Want to try the notorious mascara yourself? Buy it here.
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