HotToks: Benefit "Fan Fest" Mascara, #Girlhood & #GirlDinners

Welcome back to HotToks. This edition we report on Benefit's "Fan Fest" mascara launch on TikTok Shop, the Barbie-inspired Girlhood trend, and the mixed reviews on Girl Dinner.

Benefit Bets on TikTok Shopping for New Mascara Launch

For the launch of its new mascara, “Fan Fest,” Benefit made a splash on TikTok. Benefit execs are well aware of the power of social media, and have referenced, on numerous occasions, the success they’ve seen on TikTok. 

The brand has benefitted (no pun intended) heavily on the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend (which now has 64.4B views on the platform), with customers frequently going in-store to ask about products they’ve seen on TikTok.

Exec Maggie Ford Danielson has also noted that the brand has a great relationship with social media platforms, as their “appetite to be first” is big, and they frequently are open to trying out new features and product updates. Being one of the first few testers of TikTok’s shopping capabilities a few months ago, Benefit was eager to test just how successful TikTok Shopping could be.

The new mascara was available exclusively on TikTok for the first 48 hours of the launch before it was available for sale on Benefit’s other retailers and even their own retail and e-commerce sites. Of the 48 hours, Benefit held a TikTok Live Shop for the first 24 hours—not surprisingly, a heavy lift for the Benefit team. They did various activities during the Live, making it feel like a slumber party with your best friends. 

Though the Live Shopping event has passed at the time of writing and the mascara is still on sale, Benefit, and its appetite for risk-taking, is a great model for other brands who hope to make waves with their social media marketing strategy.

Barbie Taps into Nostalgia with TikTok ‘Girlhood’ Trend

“Barbie” broke records after its first week in theaters, and we’re still talking about the movie (and many of us are still seeing it) a few weeks later.

Particularly, viewers have been raving about the movie's emotional “Real-Women” scene where Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’ was playing, and Ruth says, “Take my hands, close your eyes, now feel.” This moment in the movie features a montage of videos of women in various stages of life, doing different things, like getting ready, laughing, crying, living—just feeling.

With a whopping 30M+ streams on the song, it quickly became the most-streamed song from the ‘Barbie’ soundtrack—and has found itself in the center of an emerging viral TikTok trend. The TikTok trend takes inspiration from one of the most memorable moments in the film. The trend features Billie Eilish’s song in the background to share moments of girlhood, bringing out their inner child. Now, #girlhood has over 500M views on the platform, and users have been using this trend to share some of their fondest and rawest memories. As wonderful as that is, It’s even more wonderful to know that it was Greta’s vision to share memories from the people who made the movie (the cast, the crew, and everyone from editorial), making that scene in “Barbie” truly one-of-a-kind and genuinely one of the most remarkable ‘movie magic’ moments to ever exist in film history. Bursting with nostalgia, this scene transcended film and reached out of the screen, inspiring people to reclaim their girlhood.

#GirlDinner Trend on TikTok Elicits Mixed Feelings

An utterly unrelated trend to ‘Girlhood’ is the concept of #GirlDinner. Another trend that has overtaken TikTok with almost 1B views on TikTok, #GirlDinner is kind of nebulous and can be anything. The original trend started with creator Olivia Maher, where she introduced the concept by saying that bread and cheese is an elite combination for dinner and something to eat while her boyfriend wasn’t around. She didn’t have to have a ‘typical dinner’ (one that stereotypically contains a protein, a veggie, and a starch).

‍This original TikTok has over 1.5M views. At its core, “Girl Dinner” is when you (with the luxury of not having to worry about the nutritional needs of others) bundle a bunch of random elements of food together for dinner. It can be cheese, chocolate, cracker, fruit, or leftover bread. 

Up to the eater’s discretion, “girl dinner” can really be any artfully laid out combination without considering the nutritional value or the clean-up afterward. It’s “chaotic but filling” and requires “no preparation, just vibes” as TikTok commenters have noted. Or at least that’s how it started anyway. 

Quickly, TikTok creators came out to say something different: although the #GirlDinner trend is great, it can be masked and interpreted as a glorification of ED. The idea of having a piece of cheese for dinner didn’t sit right with audiences, and some creators, like Halley Kate, have made content speaking out about how these #GirlDinner videos could be mistaken for “something else.” She was applauded by her comments section for speaking out about this so openly, with some commenters saying, “this is why you’re my favorite” or “RIGHT. the first one i saw was buttered pasta and salad and now it’s cashews, like no that’s not quite it!”

‍Kate Glavan, an avid runner and content creator, has also touched on this viral trend in one of her vlogs, citing her past with an eating disorder and saying that this trend can be damaging to the girl who doesn’t have eating issues who could now develop them after being exposed to this type of content.

Wherever you stand on this discourse, #GirlDinner is still a fascinating trend to do a deep dive into. And it’s even manifested into real-life brand activations, like the ‘Girl Dinner’ at Popeyes, which is just all of the sides from the original menu. While some are very on board with the trend, saying it celebrates indulgence and freedom from a typical, formulaic, “nutritious” dinner, others say the trend may very easily turn into a more serious conversation about eating disorders and our individual relationships with food.

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Thanks for reading!

- Viv

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