Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Revolve addresses Stagecoach backlash, Youthforia slammed for black "tar" foundation + Taylor Swift to attend Met Gala

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MINI SCROLL: Revolve addresses Stagecoach backlash, Youthforia slammed for black "tar" foundation + Taylor Swift to attend Met Gala · Mini Scroll

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  Hi everyone, Welcome to Mini Scroll, the daily Internet
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  culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories from social
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  media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday. I'm your host, Lauren Meisner,
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  the founder of the youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll everyone and happy May 1st.
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  Wow that is wild. So we have officially been doing
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  Mini Scroll for a full month now.
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  I can say it has absolutely destroyed my schedule.
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  No, but in a good way. It's giving me so much purpose
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  every day for real. It's been a bit of a struggle to
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  find my rhythm, but I'm loving it so far.
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  I hope you guys are loving it as well and I'm actually really
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  excited because I think possibly starting Monday might be too
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  soon. I think maybe starting probably
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  mid next week or the week after I am going to be in a new studio
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  space. So it's been a long time coming,
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  but we have been recording the podcast at my house for the last
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  year and a half since we started filming it basically and I have
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  ripped the Band-Aid off and got ourselves a dedicated studio
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  space that we will set up. So that will reinvigorate me.
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  And I share this studio space with Sean's office.
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  So when I record mini scroll, I basically have to make sure that
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  like, he doesn't have a meeting or anything 'cause he works
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  mostly from home. So it's been like quite a
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  juggling act. I'm excited to have my own
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  dedicated space. Anyways, let's get into these
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  stories for today. So the first story is a little
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  update from a story from yesterday.
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  So Revolve has responded to the Stagecoach after party backlash.
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  So yesterday we talked about the Pizza slime, Revolve, Stagecoach
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  after party and how it basically went viral on TikTok because
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  there were two lines at the entrance.
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  One that said creators who have over 1,000,000 followers go this
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  way and creators who have under a million followers go that way.
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  Pizza slime, that's kind of their whole, their whole shtick,
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  their St. Wear brand and they kind of poke
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  fun at like influencer and celebrity culture.
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  So people were kind of like maybe this is like a pizza slime
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  shtick. But because they were
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  collaborating with Revolve, who are known for being very, very
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  exclusionary when it comes to the creators and the influencers
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  that they work with and they kind of helped create that
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  culture in the influencer space in general.
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  It rubbed people the wrong way. So now Revolve has responded.
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  They made a TikTok and they basically posted this video that
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  said POV, you go viral, but it wasn't even your best sign.
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  And then they posted a montage of some of the other signs at
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  this event that we're like a trolling basically.
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  So some of the signs that they posted included Princess Parking
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  only and General Last parking at the parking lot.
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  They had water bottles that you could they were selling or
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  giving out water bottles that said vegan water.
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  And they also had a sign for the bathroom that said pee pee poo
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  poo. So I think it's safe to say that
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  the 1,000,000 followers versus not 1,000,000 followers, those
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  signs were part of like a bigger shtick that they were playing at
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  this after party. But again, the collab between
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  Pizza Slime and Revolve is really interesting and I feel
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  like it's maybe showing that Revolve is self aware.
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  Like they've received a lot of backlash in recent years,
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  especially with TikTok. Like with the rise of TikTok,
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  they didn't adapt, I think, very well to the changing influencer
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  landscape when TikTok first popped off and they didn't
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  really know how to include TikTok creators without getting
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  like blasted online, you know, for kind of their shady
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  influencer practices. That worked before with like
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  YouTube and Instagram influencers.
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  Because Revolve's peak was really around the time when,
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  like influencer culture was very aspirational and there was this
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  mystique around it. And TikTok really like lifted
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  the veil on a lot of stuff. So Revolve was a little bit
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  behind on that. So I think that this is actually
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  a a good indicator this after party and kind of this like
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  trolling. It's like a good indicator that
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  Revolve is now ready to be a bit more self aware and they are
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  adapting with the changes that come with influencer culture.
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  Now with TikTok, the next story that I have for you guys is
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  honestly absolutely enraging. I haven't felt this passionate
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  and angry about a story in a very long time, but I'm going to
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  be talking about how the beauty brand Euphoria is being called
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  out by consumers for expanding their foundation shade range to
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  include black face paint. And if you think that sounds
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  bad, it gets 100 million times worse.
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  So let's go. Last year Euphoria came under
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  fire when it released a skin tint serum foundation with a
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  very non inclusive shade range. The foundation had 15 shades,
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  but the darkest shade was a golden brown.
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  So off the back of this criticism, the Euphoria founder
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  Fiona Co Chan made a TikTok in October which she has since
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  deleted. She said the brand intended to
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  extend the shade range before launch but wanted to test the
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  products out with some initial shades.
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  First quote. It was always my intention to
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  launch this as a proof of concept to see if people even
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  liked the base formula. I thought if the project was
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  such a flop then we will have to start over.
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  That is literally always the excuse.
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  Just like off the bat that is always the excuse that anyone,
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  whether it's fashion that's not being size inclusive or beauty
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  that's not being shade inclusive.
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  That is always the excuse either it's a money thing.
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  It's like, well, we don't want to spend the money on creating
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  you know, bigger sizes or like a full shade range.
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  So we just created shades or sizes that are like our typical
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  consumer quote UN quote or they'll say, you know, we didn't
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  even know if this was going to work.
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  So we just wanted to like release a few shades and test
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  it. Well, why couldn't some of those
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  shades be very, very dark shades?
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  It's just such a cop out. I don't think anyone takes these
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  excuses seriously anymore. But because they tie it into a
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  business decision quote UN quote, they think it makes it
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  easier for us to digest. Because I think they think that
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  like we don't understand. I think that they they believe
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  that they can like dupe the general consumer because we, you
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  know, don't have our own brands, we don't know the insurance and
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  outs of their finances. They think that's a viable
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  excuse. OK anyways, so now the brand has
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  launched 10 new shades of the foundation and people are even
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  more mad because the darkest shade, Shade 600, is quite
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  literally jet black. Like as black as my nail Polish.
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  So the week of its launch, Euphoria sent a message to it's
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  like Insider Crew, which is basically it's brand ambassadors
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  writing seeing some confusion on our TikTok from people who are
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  suggesting that our darkest shade of Foundation, Shade 600,
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  is black face paint and not meant for real people.
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  We created Shade 600 as part of our 10 Shade expansion this past
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  March. We heard everyone loud and clear
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  last October that our shades were not dark enough or
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  inclusive enough. OK, so I think this is an
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  interesting message to touch on because it shows that they
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  expanded the shade ranges in response to the backlash as
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  opposed to what Fiona initially said to us in her TikTok in
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  October, which was that she always wanted to have a diverse
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  shade range. But you know she just needed to
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  test the formula and see if people even wanted the product.
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  So this is a very telling post. The message also said that the
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  shade didn't match anyone in the US, but claimed that Fiona
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  visited Dubai while testing and found two people who the shade
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  matched. OK, so there have been countless
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  videos of creators trying the product and comparing it
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  essentially to black face paint. And this comparison was
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  confirmed by cosmetic chemist Javon Ford, who broke down the
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  ingredients list for the darkest shade in a new TikTok video
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  quote Here there is only one pigment, CI 77499, which is just
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  black iron oxide, no other colorants.
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  This foundation literally only has pure black pigment, he said.
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  And then he did go on to correct himself in the comments, saying
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  he missed quote a small amount of white added so Gray.
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  They literally made the foundation dark Gray.
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  But to make matters worse, the marketing campaign around this
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  shade expansion was so racist. Like, I don't even know what
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  other word to use because that is, in my opinion, exactly what
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  it was. So when they released this
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  expanded shade range, you know, they had a photo of all the
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  different models. It was like a grid photo of all
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  the different models wearing all the different shade ranges, like
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  little squares, OK? And at the very end was shade
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  600 and there was no model and it was just instead a black
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  Swatch of like black paint basically.
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  So everyone was like, what the fuck is this like?
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  You couldn't even find a model with this skin tone.
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  And it seems like that was intentional because they were
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  trying to use this marketing collateral and create this like
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  fun little series where they went, quote, UN quote in search
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  of somebody who suits that skin tone to like be their campaign
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  model. And then in this TikTok Fiona
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  like goes to this photo store. They take pictures of this guy
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  that she found and then she basically put him in as the
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  model for the campaign. So somebody comment on this
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  TikTok saying how did you find the other models through
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  casting? I'm just confused as to why you
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  couldn't find a model with a deeper skin tone.
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  And then the brand responded saying hi.
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  We held a casting call open to the public but didn't have any
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  attendees who showed up that were within the 600 shade range,
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  which is what led to this journey to find a 600 model with
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  like this emoji. So everything Fiona said in
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  October about this like being a proof of concept kind of test
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  and learn thing with this foundation launch is completely
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  contradicted now by this like quote UN quote marketing
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  campaign where they tried to do this quirky fun little model
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  search for shade 600. Because they are telling us that
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  they did not create the shade with anyone in mind.
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  They did not have anyone that they tested this product on.
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  So there was no proof of concept for shade 600.
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  So that tells me, in my opinion, that this whole marketing
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  campaign around shade 600 and creating shade 600 in general,
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  that is like a microaggression brought to life.
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  Like, to me, this is just blatant racism.
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  This is a brand being very pissed off that people were
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  upset that their shade range was nowhere near deep enough and
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  diverse enough back in October, and she's essentially punishing
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  people of color for that feedback.
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  And then the implication of doing this kind of like, you
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  know, model search for shade 600 is what, that you couldn't find
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  any dark skin models that you felt were worth paying like all
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  of the other lighter skinned models.
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  Is that what you're saying? Because I'm assuming that the
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  man that ended up being the model wasn't paid, he was
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  literally found on the street. But I think the overarching
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  issue here bigger, I mean there's a million issues, but I
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  think like the biggest one, at least in my opinion.
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  And I would love to hear any feedback from you guys,
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  especially if you are somebody that has a hard time finding
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  your shade range. I would love to hear this.
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  But you know, I think from my perspective, the bigger issue
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  here is that this was such a disingenuous attempt, quote UN
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  quote, at being inclusive. And these disingenuous attempts
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  happen all the time, especially in the beauty industry.
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  And they literally incite racism.
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  Like now the comments of all of these creators who are trying
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  shade 600 and saying this is literally just black pigment.
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  This is black face paint. Their comments are filled with
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  people being racist towards them.
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  Saying like all you guys do is complain a brand makes a shade
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  the darkest that they can and you still find something to arc
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  up about. It opens the door for racist to
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  be like nothing is ever good enough so why even try?
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  And that in my opinion makes what euphoria has done here
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  malicious. I believe it was intentional.
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  I believe it was the brand, the founder throwing like basically
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  a temper tantrum that people didn't like the initial shade
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  range and they had some feedback about it.
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  And this is honestly one of the most shocking things I think
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  we've seen in the beauty community for a very, very long
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  time. All right.
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  And the last try that I have for you guys need to bring a bit of
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  levity to this. Taylor Swift is allegedly going
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  to be attending the Met Gala, so a few days ago TMZ reported that
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  Taylor would not be attending the Met Gala despite obviously
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  being invited. I'm sure she is invited every
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  year. They also said that Travis
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  Kelsey was invited but would not be attending.
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  However, today Swifties are excited to see that a new report
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  from Page 6 says that she will be attending, and the Page Six
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  article also acknowledges the TMZ article that said that
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  Taylor won't be attending. So it seems like their sources
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  are probably pretty sure that Taylor is going to be going to
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  the Met Gala. And I mean this is like kind of
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  a nothing story. But she hasn't been to the Met
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  Gala in 2016 and there are actually a few viral tik toks
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  right now going around of people being like celebrities who used
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  to go to the Met Gala but haven't gone in a while.
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  And of course Taylor Swift is on that list.
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  And there seems to be this trend where like quote UN quote,
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  something happened in 2016 where that was like the last year that
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  a lot of really mainstream celebrities went to the Met Gala
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  and then they kind of stopped going.
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  And my theory on that, I would love to hear your guys theory
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  too. But my theory is that it's
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  probably because 2016, if you think about what was happening
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  in the influencer landscape, then this was the height of the
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  YouTube beauty community. That is when influencer culture
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  was starting to breakthrough to mainstream culture.
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  So I believe this was probably, I would say it's probably like
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  20/17/2018 when big influencers started getting invited to the
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  Met Gala and I think the direction just kind of changed.
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  It's not that I think celebrities started saying no to
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  going to the Met Gala because influencers were attending,
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  although I'm sure there are some that have started doing that.
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  But I think it's more that typically to go to the Met Gala,
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  a brand is inviting you because you buy like a table.
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  So my, you know, theory here is basically that I assume that a
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  lot of the brands that are buying tables and are typically
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  inviting a list, celebrities just started inviting
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  influencers instead. So yeah, I'm interested to see
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  if she goes. I will do a Met Gala recap next
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  week. Regardless.
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  I don't know how I'll do it, but I will figure it out.
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  Anyways, guys, that's it for today.
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  Thank you so much for listening to Mini Scroll.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  It helps me so much. It helps me grow.
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  I love you guys and I will talk to you tomorrow.
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  Bye.