Tarte Cosmetics

Tarte Cosmetics, a cruelty-free cosmetics brand carried by major retailers like Sephora and Ulta, exposed the personal information of nearly two million customers in two unsecured online databases.

In 2018, Tarte went viral after influencer Jackie Aina called them out for an upcoming foundation line without any shades for darker skin tones. And in January 2023, the cosmetics company was criticized (again) for a luxury influencer trip to Dubai that was filled with mostly white influencers. Each time, Tarte has publicly acknowledged complaints and promised to do better — but that hasn’t stopped the cycle from repeating itself. And following Victor’s video, when Black influencer Bria Jones posted an emotional video on May 4, saying she felt like the Tarte team was treating her differently than white creators, a match was lit. Jones, who was scheduled to attend a brand trip to Miami timed to the Formula 1 Grand Prix, said she pulled out when she realized she had only been invited for the practice day, and other creators with bigger follower counts were staying to watch the official event on Sunday.

All press may be good press, if makeup brand Tarte's latest campaign is any proof. For its newest product launch, the New York city-based company deployed a provocative marketing campaign that frames its Snatch Stick, a $26 cream contour stick and brush tool, as a replacement for plastic surgery. The rollout kicked off with social media teasers featuring a model whose face is covered in bandages. That visual, which seems to imply the model had just gotten cosmetic work done, rubbed some customers the wrong way. “Oh this is very VERY weird marketing,” one TikTok user commented. Another called it “disturbing,” declaring that “as a yearslong customer I will never buy from you again.” Tarte also sent plastic surgery-themed PR packages to content creators and makeup artists, and publicized the Snatch Stick launch by driving an ambulance decked out with Tarte branding around Los Angeles and New York to perform demos for creators. One creator said in a TikTok that it felt "really disturbing" to receive Tarte's PR package, since it included a picture of herself decorated with the kind of dotted lines a plastic surgeon might draw on a patient as well as a personalized "treatment plan" of an upper bleph, rhinoplasty, jaw lift, and botox. The so-called “glambulance” also struck a nerve with some. “This is not cute,” a customer commented on TikTok. “It's horrifying. You all really sat through multiple rounds of marketing meetings and no one said anything about this being a bad idea?” Others, however, defended Tarte, describing the internet's response to its campaign as “too sensitive” or “dramatic.” Tarte still appears to be coming out on top. The brand told Modern Retail, which first reported on the controversy, it has amassed more than 5 million views across social media platforms due to the launch. And that attention is translating to sales: Tarte reportedly sold 2.4 times more Snatch Sticks in its first week than projected, selling through 65 percent of its initial inventory during that period. Plus, 42 percent of those who purchased the product were new Tarte customers. “Our creative strategy is to own the ‘plastic surgeon in a stick’ positioning,” Tarte’s founder and CEO Maureen Kelly said in an Instagram video about the product launch. “Every concept turns the idea of skipping the needles into a viral moment that immediately communicates the product benefit in a very fun, shareable way.” The campaign "was never intended to suggest that anyone needs to change their appearance or that cosmetic procedures are something people should aspire to,” a Tarte spokesperson told Modern Retail. “Beauty is personal, and we respect that some people experienced the creative differently than we intended. We listen when our community tells us that." "At the same time," the spokesperson added, "we’re looking at the full response to the campaign. Ninety-six percent of measured conversation around Snatch Stick has been positive.” Tarte did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Inc.

Like most internet drama, the trouble began on social media. On April 25, Tarte hosted a two-week influencer extravaganza in Turks and Caicos, at the former estate of late R&B singer Prince. Dubbed #TarteIsland, the trip featured influencers with both large and budding platforms, documenting each step for their followers. But after a group of white influencers posted a room-tour video of their accommodations, beauty influencer Cynthia Victor, known as @shawtysin, posted a video saying she felt like she was being treated unfairly by being placed in a smaller room. That sentiment was only amplified after some creators found out that a select group of girls — white creators with bigger followings — had been invited to stay at the resort for two full weeks, instead of one.

The CEO of Tarte Cosmetics is apologizing and promising to do better after one Black influencer called the company out for treating her like a “second-tier” creator.

Tarte founder Maureen Kelly posted a GRWM video on May 5: “I woke up pretty sad this morning and I wanted to talk to you guys about a couple of things,” Kelly said before sharing her side of the story. She claims that she wasn’t thinking about what was going on at F1’s racetrack; instead, she was thinking of ways to have the greatest number of people enjoy the experience. “We made a plan for everyone to have one day at the racetrack, one really nice dinner, and one really fun night at the club. So everyone was coming for the same amount of time and I was really excited to hang with so many cool creators. Every day had a mix of big creators and up-and-coming creators,” Kelly said. The TikTok response was swift: Content creators including Simi Muhumuza called Kelly out for “gaslighting” without actually apologizing for the mistreatment. “It’s like you don’t care at all about the complexities of marginalized voices in these spaces,” Muhumuza said.

On May 7, Jones posted an apology to TikTok, saying that she’s been in contact with Kelly and the entire Tarte team and there was miscommunication on both ends. “I recognize my mistake in responding so quickly and publicly, but Tarte has done a great job working through the situation with me,” she said in the video. At the end, she said she’s taking a break from TikTok for her mental health, and the comments are shut off on the video. In her last video, she suggested leaving Ojekunle and Fannita alone and that she doesn’t condone any bullying.

The company came under fire last week after Bria Jones, a Black influencer, said she felt she was treated as a "second-tier" person ahead of a Tarte brand trip.

In 2018, Tarte faced backlash for the lack of diversity in shades in its Tarte Tape Shape Foundation. Beauty influencers Alissa Ashley and Jackie Aina took to YouTube at the time to call the brand out.

The most recent allegations come from beauty influencer Bria Jones, who posted an emotional TikTok video on May 4. For a Tarte trip to Formula 1 in Miami, she was supposed to leave on May 5 and return home on May 6, missing the main F1 race day (she would be able to attend the practice race days). When she found out that other non-Black influencers (with more followers) were invited to stay until May 7, the day of the biggest race, she realized she was getting different treatment than the other creators. “I have more integrity than to get all the way to Miami and realize that I’m being treated like a second-tier person or like I’m being ranked,” Jones said in the now-deleted video. “It just feels like a sorority situation.”