A popular beauty influencer with over 12 million followers on TikTok defended false advertising in a now-deleted video.
Even if she put false eyelashes on, why does it matter? Mads Lewis said in her now-deleted video. I know it is false advertising but isn't everything false advertising? Isn't everything technically kind of lying just a little bit? The debate over truth in advertising on TikTok started after beauty influencer Mikayla Nogueira was accused of wearing fake eyelashes while promoting L Oreal Telescopic Lift mascara. Nogueira had described her lashes after using the product, and Lewis, another influencer, argued that Nogueira's possible use of fake lashes wasn't a big deal because of the prominence of false advertising across the industry. The videos were resurfaced on another TikTok account that stitched the videos to make sure the platform retained Lewis's view for posterity.
She continued, comparing Nogueira's actions to food companies that modify their products in commercials, don't get me wrong, lying sucks. Everyone does it, especially when it comes to social media, and especially when it comes to making money. Sorry, if someone put $200,000 in your face and said, Hey, promote my sh -- mascara, I don't think you'd think twice about it. Users condemned the take and argued that the problem wasn't that Nogueira lied, but that she built her platform on supposedly honest reviews of products and then was caught lying several times. Other TikTok beauty influencers have been quick to criticize Nogueira, calling her behavior bizarre and accusing her of posting misleading reviews that could harm other influencers.
In response to the controversy, people are putting their trust in us, and this isn't cool, said Alissa Ashley, a beauty product reviewer with over 435,000 followers.
In a tongue-in- cheek write-up of the controversy, BuzzFeed noted that investigating a beauty influencer's apparent mistake is a step-down from some of the controversies that plagued such accounts in the past few years.
Recent controversies included James Charles sending inappropriate texts to minors and accusations of racism and bullying from influencers including Laura Lee and Jefree Star.