An influencer lies on her bed, eyes open, staring into space. “I find myself recently struggling from seeing the effects of gun violence firsthand,” she says via voiceover. A gunman killed three of her fellow students at Michigan State University earlier this year. “I will never forget the feeling of terror I had walking around campus for weeks … from countless anxiety attacks to crying alone in my room at night,” she continues, upbeat music bopping in the background. Then: “Join me and Bioré Skincare in speaking up about mental health!” She peels open a pore strip, sticks it on the bridge of her nose, smiles.
Yes, Bioré sponsored an influencer advertisement implying its (unadvisable) products can soothe the trauma of a school shooting. Yes, it’s awful. Yes, people are outraged about it. And they should be! They maybe shouldn’t be surprised, though. As I told Washington Post reporter María Luisa Paúl when she interviewed me for her investigation into the ad, “The beauty industry has been feeding us this messaging about beauty products being some sort of solution to stress, or an act of self-care and wellness … for a pretty long time.” For instance, just a few days after the Bioré debacle, I received this PR email:
Predatory marketing that capitalizes on customers’ declining mental health is nothing new. It’s also not the core issue here.
Companies like Bioré are able to profit off of the national epidemic of near-constant gun violence because the United States government refuses to do anything about it. Politicians have yet to provide citizens with reform, regulation, or hope for a future free from weekly mass shootings. In a capitalist society, this opens the door for corporations to offer consumer-centric “solutions” instead. And why wouldn’t they? Businesses exist to make money, period. And why wouldn’t we buy in? “What are the other resources that are available to young women, in particular, who are experiencing these sorts of things in America?” I asked in the Post piece. “What resources are we offering to victims of gun violence? Where do they have to turn?”
Our elected officials are failing us, miserably. It makes sense to me that a young person traumatized by a school shooting or anxiously anticipating the next one — and there will be a next one — might see that and say, I guess I’ll try a Bioré pore strip.
In addition to the Washington Post report, I was interviewed for a few other beauty articles this week:
“How To Stop Hating Your Face” by Aubree Nichols for the Los Angeles Times
“Our lives are increasingly virtual, so we have fewer inputs for what a real human face looks like,” says Jessica DeFino, former beauty writer and founder of The Unpublishable, a Substack newsletter with more than 70,000 subscribers that exposes the untold secrets of the beauty industry. “With filters, we’re constantly inundated with digitally altered images to measure ourselves against,” she explains. “Beauty standards are getting more demanding, dehumanizing and impossible to maintain.”
“Nipped, Tucked, & Woke As F*ck: Gen Z & The Politics of Plastic Surgery” by Alexandra Pauly for Highsnobiety
Jessica DeFino, a reporter whose work takes an unflinchingly critical look at the beauty industry, characterizes the decision to undergo a cosmetic procedure as a “coerced choice,” one coaxed by a culture in which women are rewarded for manipulating their appearance to meet an impossible standard of beauty. “This idea that anything a woman does is inherently feminist because she's choosing to do it is obviously very problematic,” she says. “It doesn't look at the underlying cultural and socioeconomic factors that influence our choices, or the wider impact of our choices.” That’s where plastic-surgery-as-empowerment-speak falls short: It fails to recognize that cosmetic surgery and injectables help perpetuate a beauty culture that harms everyone – particularly women of color.
“Animal Testing & Harm Within the Beauty Industry” by Molly Lipson for Atmos
Jessica DeFino explains that the beauty industry harms animals — and the wider environment — just by existing. “There are so many activists who are very passionate about animal testing…and I would invite them to think of some of the other, perhaps more under the radar, ways that the cosmetics industry is contributing to climate change and is killing animals, biodiversity, microorganisms in the soil, ocean life,” she said. “It’s all linked.”
“About that Martha Stewart Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Cover...” hosted by Sari Botton for Oldster Magazine
Progressive inclusivity? Reinforcement of impossible beauty standards? None of our business? A [video] chat with Valerie Monroe, Laurie Stone, Carolita Johnson, and Jessica DeFino, moderated by Sari Botton.
Ugh...that Biore ad is just the absolute bottom. In what universe do blackheads and mourning the dead or dealing with existential crises have anything in common?!? It’s the “Calgon take me away” idea of the 70’s writ perverse but hey, at least a bath is legit temporary self care. Since I don’t TikTok at all, or Instagram (much beyond friends feeds) I’m always floored reading your missives on the absolute (and dangerous!) drivel offered up by influencers and their sponsors, especially. It’s such a dirty business. Keep up your wonderful exposés Jessica!!
“Join me and Bioré Skincare in speaking up about mental health!”
Isn’t it also hyper-problematic that there’s an expectation that being physically beautiful is being equated to having good mental health and mental wellness? Isn’t it the tale as old as time that being gorgeous means nothing about someone’s internal disposition.
Also, whatever happened to editors; who gave the go ahead for this terrible advertisement? Perhaps Instagram needs human editors, who can be like “wow, this advertisement is ridiculous and discriminatory”. School shootings should not be game for corporate advertising, but alas, what do I know, as an an educator with 13 years of teaching experience.
I was thinking about how “plastic surgery” is being marketed and sold to us as “feminism”. It’s time for honesty. We, as women, only want plastic surgery, so that we can be the next Marilyn Monroe. We want to parade and adorn ourselves in all the luxurious objects that capitalism has to offer. Then, and only then, we hallucinate, will we have power in society. Perhaps we could negotiate for the disarmament of nuclear missiles, if only we were beautiful. But let’s not kid ourselves, that’s a lot of blow jobs to give to heads of state. Or maybe we will finally be free when we are chosen as “most beautiful” from the concubines of Jeff Bezos. Let’s not pretend that we all don’t hallucinate daily about quitting our day jobs and entering sex work. Perhaps as an evil spy seductress, will we be able to stop a future Hitler. Or survive the next war.
And yet, there’s that voice. It beckons, “read a book”, “learn calculus”, “become financially literate”, “get a college degree”, and we push it down, push it down. I was born a princess, without a crown! Can’t they see? I’m an undiscovered influencer. My years of music lessons means I should have a performance career by now, if only they could see I’m truly beautiful.
And then, there’s reality. It’s all plastic. Endocrine disrupting chemicals. Carcinogens. Toxins. Lead. PFAS. Microplastics. Everything is plastic and toxic chemicals. Everything is petrochemicals.
Sorry I’m disturbed, haha.