Beauty brand Sephora has divided the internet after posting an ad for an adult toy to its global Instagram page which has more than 20 million followers.
Since posting the advert, Sephora has since stopped allowing comments on the post, but thankfully (for B&T readers) we managed to grab a few before that happened.
The beauty powerhouse got people’s blood pressure up (not in the way it intended) when it posted an advert for its adult toy range on its Instagram page.
The (fairly tame ad) features a short clip of their Smile Maker range. Two toys are shown in the video – the ‘Firefighter’ and ‘The French Lover’ which looks eerily like a big tongue.
Selling adult toys is not new for Sephora, who started selling them back in 2022.
However, the toys have not been heavily marketed and it seemed it was the prominence of the ad on the brand’s Instagram page that caught the wrath of angry parents on the internet.
While Sephora’s most popular age range according to websites such as Similar Web is the 25-34 demographic, it is known for having a young customer base with many teenagers shopping there.
“Young girls (and boys) are shopping at Sephora and following your social media. What do sex toys have to do with makeup? This is disappointing and inappropriate,” one user commented, drawing hundreds of likes.
Another commented: “This is not appropriate for the young girls that visit/look at Sephora! I get all about “self care” but come on sephora DO BETTER!”
Meanwhile, other users were more bemused by the advert with one innocently commenting “Is this for facial use only or ????”. Sephora, clearly sticking by the ad, responded to the user saying “It’s a vibrator”.
Another jokingly asked, “So is this between the Kat Von D display and Anastasia, or next to NARS?”
Not everyone was negative, however, many praised the beauty brand for stepping into pleasure as well as makeup.
“Lead the way, @sephora. I am so here for this and support this mission 100000000%. BRAVO. 👏🏼”
