HotToks: Bioré Controversy, TikTok vs. Montana, & Rainbow Capitalism

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Vivian Zhou

May 30, 2023

Updated Feb 09, 2024

Welcome back to HotToks. This edition we report on the Biore Pore Strips backlash, TikTok suing Montana to block a ban of the app, and how Pride Month launches the conversation on Rainbow Capitalism. ‍

‍Fresh on TikTok’s Chopping Block: Bioré Pore Strips

This week on Controversy-Tok, we have Bioré.

Last week, TikTok influencer Cecilee Max-Brown posted a video in partnership with Bioré, just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month in early May. In the since-deleted video, Max-Brown, a recent graduate at Michigan State University, discusses struggling with anxiety in the aftermath of the shooting at MSU back in February. The message in that video was to “strip away the stigma of anxiety,” and get out “not only what’s in your pores, but most importantly, what’s on your mind, too”.

As we can imagine, this didn’t sit well with viewers. Viewers were quick to call out that the slogan trivialized the gravity of her first-hand brush with gun violence; I mean, the advertisement essentially uses a school shooting survivor’s trauma to push a beauty product. Both sides, Bioré and Max-Brown, have issued apologies detailing their insensitivity to the heaviness of the situation.

For a decent chunk of recent years, beauty brands have taken on self-care messaging, and positioned themselves as a means of self-care, a way to improve overall wellbeing for consumers. Because Gen Z is reported to have poorer mental health, these marketing tactics and positioning methods are seeing positive results, especially within this stressed crowd. While it’s valid, especially after the pandemic, the line between beauty and mental health can be pretty blurry (and is getting blurrier), and this Bioré partnership furthers that sentiment.

Montana v. TikTok

Last week, the Republican governor of Montana, Greg Gianforte, signed a measure to be effective starting next year, prohibiting the app from being downloaded by the general public.

TikTok Inc. has officially sued the state of Montana over the first statewide ban of the popular app and social media platform, saying that the state has failed to honor the free-speech right of American citizens. They said: "We are challenging Montana’s unconstitutional TikTok ban to protect our business and the hundreds of thousands of TikTok users in Montana.”

The company is saying that this ban was grounded in a false misconception that the Chinese ownership of the platform poses a national security risk to the US. This legal challenge from TikTok follows a suit filed last week by TikTok content creators who say that this new law violates their right to freedom of speech as laid out in the First Amendment, significantly disrupts their livelihoods, and impacts their income.

Regarding the back-and-forth between these two parties, TikTok has said that this is a “reality of modern communication” that users will share content that might be deemed harmful or inappropriate. Still, the platform has features and policies that protect minors from this type of content. On the other hand, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen has made his stance pretty straightforward, saying that “TikTok is a Chinese Communist Party spying tool that poses a threat to every Montanan.”

As more concerns arise regarding a TikTok ban, we’ll keep our eyes on these stories.

For more on the TikTok ban and how to adjust your content or influencer marketing strategy, download our guide here.

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Rainbow Capitalism Discussed Ahead of Pride Month

June is our favorite time of year… PRIDE! AKA: the full-blown onslaught of Pride campaigns and content. A couple years back, this idea of “rainbow capitalism” started floating around – and this year, it’s no different.

“Rainbow capitalism” (or “pink capitalism” or “pinkwashing”) was the phrase coined to describe the commercialization and commodification of LGBTQ movements, most notably Pride Month in June.

Rainbow capitalism has led to some of the most outrageous, cringey, and just downright bad branding of all time. I mean Pride Month is literally a field day for marketers and advertisers worldwide.

And every year, it’s become a tradition for queer people across the internet to shame, call out, and make fun of the displays of rainbow capitalism from brands and companies all over. “Rainbow capitalism” has more than 60M views on the platform.

One example is queer stand-up comic, Jes Tom, receiving an unsolicited merch package from DKNY, and making fun of it with this Tweet: “didn’t even ask what size shirt I wear. they said one size fits all for these freaks,” Jes replied. A comedian, truly. Though that was two years ago, this tradition still lives on. This year, in light of Target’s 2023 Pride collection, TikToker Matt Bernstein made a video that can only be summarized as: “the Target Pride collection generally evokes the same feeling as this Tweet from this girl whose parents bought her a bunch of Ellen merch when she came out as gay.”

So why are brands still pushing out these cringey campaigns? A director from an advertising agency gave us some insight: “There is a lot of social pressure for brands to do something for every single awareness month…if you don’t do it, it calls more attention to your brand than if you do do it.” Hard to say, I mean, there have definitely been some Pride campaigns that really backfired…I’m looking at you, Budlight. Not to mention, Target has also been getting some backlash for its 2023 Pride collection.