American cosmetics giant Maybelline is the latest brand to find itself in hot water after it used men to promote its new product lines amid calls to boycott the brand.
The brand enlisted make-up influencer and ‘Maybelline partner’ Ryan Vita (who uses the pronouns he/she/they) to promote a new lipstick in promotional videos shared to his Instagram page.
Vita, who boasts 1.2 million Insta followers, can be seen applying a bright pink lipstick to a chap as part of an Amazon Prime Day advert.
According to reports the people in the videos are an unidentified bearded model and LGBTQI+ influencer.
In its defence, Maybelline has long featured people from the LGBTQI+ community and men to market its products, most notably in 2017, when it enlisted Manny Gutierrez, known for his popular “Manny Mua” YouTube channel with nearly five million subscribers, as its first male star of a marketing campaign.
Dylan Mulvaney has also appeared for the brand. That, too, attracting conservatives’ wrath.
However, the new work isn’t sitting well with the people who are now hating on Bud Light – conservative Americans.
The videos were first called out by right-wing media outlet Blaze TV and one of its hosts, Lauren Chen.
“Another day, another disturbing make-up ad,” Chen wrote, posting the work to her social media channels.
Maybelline’s Twitter and Instagram comment sections were quickly filled with angry comments from Maybelline customers, with many declaring they would unfollow or boycott the makeup brand.
Not that everyone was mean. Some applauding the brand for the brave work. “So beautiful!!! (Inside and outside) We love you @ryanvitabeauty,” one user penned. Another criticised the angry commenters, defending Vita’s use of makeup as artistic expression.
However, the hate also rolled in, too.
Hey girls, do you want to look like a man? do you want to look like a man with a beard…? … and no hair…? Buy #maybelline right now and see how Maybelline will trans…form you into a “non woman”, exactly what we all aspire to be 👻 #transgender #WokeCulture pic.twitter.com/pq4XjqaWuw
— Penning Facts (@penningfacts) July 13, 2023
“Enough with these disturbing people’s posts!!!” one person said.
“Really don’t want to be seeing MEN doing makeup tutorials!!! Nonsense,” said another.
Another added: “Do you really think we would want to buy these lipsticks after seeing this? I love Maybelline but can’t handle this.”
The latest brouhaha flies in the face of a story on B&T this week where a marketing stunt by the Maybelline team on the London Tube was being labelled as one of the product stunts of 2023! Check out the reporting HERE.
Meanwhile, B&T found this meme recently on social media that probably sums the whole nonsense up.
