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“Looking ugly” and makeup-shaming should never be a selling strategy
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In Beauty
5 min read

“Looking ugly” and makeup-shaming should never be a selling strategy

By Jacqueline Ariason February 29, 2020
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According to a popular beauty brand, “ugly” is the new social trend they’re trying to hinge on for 2020. And yes, it allegedly sounds as bad as you’d expect.

Estée Laundry, an online beauty watchdog, recently called out Benefit Cosmetics for including “looking ugly” in a list of  “pop culture/social trends” during a brainstorm meeting. Their source didn’t indicate whether it’s going to be used for their 2020 ads, but Benefit has been criticized for using makeup-shaming tactics in the past.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

From a “Pop Culture/Social Trends” brainstorming session at the #BenefitCosmetics HQ in San Francisco. Ummm, “looking ugly” as a social trend? What’s with @BenefitCosmetics shaming people for looking a certain way?

A post shared by Estée Laundry (@esteelaundry) on Feb 21, 2020 at 1:11pm PST

In  2017, a Reddit user shared a Benefit ad where it called a woman “yuck” for not having winged liner and the eye with liner is “wow.” Several netizens were offended, saying that the brand is basically telling women they have to wear eyeliner to attain a certain beauty standard.

Someone posted this in a FB group I’m in. This is an ad Benefit has calling a girl without eye makeup “yuck”. Thoughts? from r/MakeupAddiction

It doesn’t stop there. Estée Laundry also received a Benefit ad screenshot from a follower which called a natural brow “weak” while the shaped brow had a positive description. As many of you know, Benefit prides themselves on their brow products and services. The landing page for the Benefit BrowBar even shows a woman with thick, exaggerated brows to advertise their brow waxing.

But if we were to give the brand the benefit (heh, pun) of the doubt, it’s possible that they’re over their makeup-shaming ways and will hinge on “ugly” beauty.

What is ugly beauty?

Last year, ugly beauty was a hit among makeup lovers because they didn’t need to follow the conventional rules of beauty. As Dazed Media editorial director Bunny Kinney told Confidentials, “Beauty is not synonymous with looking good. People recognize beauty as a way of transformation—being scary or ugly is part of that.”

This is why we also saw weird trends pop up in the last couple of years: topsy-turvy makeup looks, nose hair extensions, ribbon brows and prosthetics, among many others. Many of them were silly online challenges, but people still embraced the weirdness.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by NikkieTutorials (@nikkietutorials) on Sep 18, 2018 at 1:22pm PDT

At the same time, this rise of unconventional beauty encouraged people to be more body and skin neutral. Now we see more posts of women flaunting their body hair, cellulite and acne—features that society deems unappealing. (It’s also important to remember that natural features are neither ugly nor trends. The ugly beauty trend is just one of the catalysts.)

What ugly beauty shouldn’t be

If Benefit does use the “you’re ugly” narrative once again, it perpetuates the idea that you have to look a certain way to be considered beautiful. Of course, they’re not the first brand to do that. Whitening and anti-acne brands are infamous for shaming people’s appearances to sell their products.

Ultimately, people have the choice to do whatever they want with how they look. They can opt not to wear makeup or shape their brows, but that doesn’t make them less beautiful. Beauty brands don’t have to keep calling their customers “ugly” to sell. They should instead empower women (and men) in choosing what works best for them and putting the makeup on when they want to.

 

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

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Pond's serums

These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

Filipino actors Bridgerton

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pura luka vega chappell roan church

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AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

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