Tarte Cosmetics, the celebrity-favorite makeup brand, is facing online criticism over a bold promotional push for its new “Snatch Stick,” after influencers received PR packages that included edited images of their faces marked up like plastic-surgery plans.
The bronzing and contour stick has been pitched with tongue-in-cheek messaging as an alternative to cosmetic procedures, with Tarte claiming it can deliver an “instant facelift” with “no needles required.”
However, the campaign has not landed well with everyone, with some shoppers and social media users describing the branding around the launch as “disturbing.”
As part of the rollout, Tarte sent the product to a number of influencers along with photos showing their own faces covered in markings commonly associated with plastic-surgery consultations.
The brand also took the theme offline, driving a logo-covered vehicle designed to resemble an ambulance to product demos for influencers in New York City and Los Angeles, while advertisements for the contour stick showed models wearing bandages.
Many content creators took to their social media accounts to slam the brand, including popular influencer Raven Small, who is known by her online moniker @beautymavenraven.
“This type of marketing is deeply harmful to the beauty community,” one critic said in a recent video addressing the campaign.
She also condemned Tarte’s choice to place plastic-surgery-style markings on an image of her, calling the move “disrespectful” and “wrong.”
Tarte Cosmetics is under fire online over its provocative “Snatch Stick” marketing campaign, which included ads showing models wearing bandages
The new product has been cheekily marketed as a replacement for plastic surgery, as the brand has promised that the bronzing and contour stick will give wearers an ‘instant facelift’ with ‘no needles required’
Another beauty creator, Maria Helen Rue, called the package ‘disturbing,’ although she did not outright name Tarte as the brand behind it; she did ‘like’ some comments that stated it was from the cosmetics brand.
Rue said that her package came with a list labeled ‘prescription and treatment plan,’ which included an ‘upper blepharoplasty, Botox, rhinoplasty and jaw lift.’
Rue said that the photo that the brand chose to send was one that she felt ‘pretty’ in – until now.
‘They took this screenshot from my Instagram, and they drew on it, places that I could be more snatched using their product,’ Rue said.
She explained that the photo contained various markings that were seemingly meant to symbolize where a plastic surgeon would ‘cut’ on her face if she were to go under the knife.
In a statement to Our News Outlet, Tarte said they are taking the feedback ‘seriously.’
‘The creative was rooted in what contour has always been about – using makeup to sculpt and define in a way that’s temporary and fun,’ Donna Kirkland, Tarte SVP of Marketing & Communications, told Our News Outlet.
‘We personalized the mailers by using each recipient’s photo, but the same contour placement was used on every face. It was a standard industry how-to, not an assessment of anyone’s features,’ Kirkland said.
Amid the release, the brand sent the product to various influencers, alongside photos of them with plastic surgery markings all over their faces
In addition, Tarte drove a vehicle resembling an ambulance covered in the brand’s logo to demo the product to influencers in New York City and Los Angeles. One of the ads for the new product is seen
‘We recognize that the procedure-inspired language could have made that distinction unclear, and we’ve taken the feedback seriously.’
Many consumers have been left outraged by the campaign, agreeing with the creators who took issue with it on social media.
‘The fact that they did it to a photo of you is actually making me nauseous. This is horrifying,’ one TikTok user commented on Rue’s video.
Another agreed: ‘This is the most disgusting idea of PR package I’ve ever seen. Their marketing team must be insane!’
‘I feel like these makeup skin care companies sometimes really prey on women’s insecurities. This is so disturbing,’ someone else wrote.
A different TikTok user typed: ‘So incredibly weird and just rude? I am tired of women feeling like they NEED to adjust themselves in anyway.’
The controversy also made its way to the Beauty Guru Chatter subreddit page.
‘This is so weird and dystopian that it’s beyond the pale,’ one Reddit user wrote.
Another seconded: ‘I truly have no words. Vile behavior from Tarte.’
On TikTok, many users were outraged by the marketing campaign
Other popular creators, however, found the mailer to be funny.
Brandis Bradley, who goes by the username @makeupartistatlaw, defended the brand in a video posted to TikTok following the backlash.
‘Since the dawn of contour time, we have been using contour to sculpt and lift our cheekbones, shorten our foreheads, slim our noses, sharpen our jawline,’ Brandis said.
‘I really don’t understand why this is so controversial,’ she added.
Her viewers agreed, with one person writing: ‘It’s not that deep, but nuance is dying!’
‘People are wild! Like how did people get upset about that,’ another wrote.
