Shape Tape Leaves Tarte Crumbling

Amandavido Corp. Businesses, like people, are bound to make mistakes. And as long as the gaffe is not too heinous, businesses can move on from the error relatively unscathed, provided they take Table of Contents the correct communicative approaches to rectifying their 3. situations. However, some 4. Foundation companies do not handle 5. Blemish negative publicity well and 7. dig even deeper holes for 8. Setting Powder themselves by ignoring the problem, skirting the issue, 10. What in Tarte-nation? or deflecting the blame. 11. Setting Spray The following case study is 12. Red Carpet Ready an example of a successful company that made all of these errors and, in the process, created a public relations nightmare for itself - a nightmare from which it is still recovering! 2 Primer: Background Information

Tarte Cosmetics is one of the most popular cosmetics companies in North America. Based out of New York, the company sells its products at department stores across the , as well as at locations in Canada, Australia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. The company has an active social media presence with 7.6 million followers on Instagram and more than 1.3 million followers on Facebook.

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1.3 million 697, 000 7.6 million 61, 472 223, 400

3 Foundation: The History

For the first 17 years of its existence, Tarte was not involved in any type of controversy or public relations issue. That unblemished streak came to an end in September 2017, when the company published a racist meme on its Instagram account that included the derogatory phrase “ching chong.” Tarte was criticized heavily for the post and removed it immediately, in addition to issuing a personal apology from company CEO and founder, Maureen Kelly. That apology helped to get the company back into the public’s good graces again. Unfortunately, Tarte did not stay there for very long.

4 Blemish: The Crisis

In January 2018, Tarte experienced extreme backlash from its consumer base after releasing its highly- anticipated Shape Tape Foundation line. The line included 15 different shades, each available for purchase in a dewy and matte formula. However, only three of Tarte’s shades suited darker skin tones, and the company was accused of both ignoring people of colour (POC) with its product line and of being out of touch with recent trends in the cosmetic industries.

For decades, the cosmetics industry had overlooked people of colour when designing product lines, despite studies that showed the POC demographic spends more on cosmetics annually than Caucasians do (Smith 2009). However, in the fall of 2017, a shift towards inclusivity in the cosmetics industry had begun when released its tremendously successful 40-shade foundation line. The company drew praise from consumers, industry influencers, and the media for its wide-ranging shade swatches. Image via Sugarpop And companies like Kylie’s Cosmetics, Huda Beauty, and LA Cosmetics quickly followed suit by debuting expansive shade lines of their own. 5 Tarte’s limited range of darker foundation tones sparked immediate outrage in the cosmetics community, and the company’s image took a massive hit. Tarte was ridiculed on social media, mocked in podcasts, and slammed in fashion blogs. Several significant beauty influencers announced that they would not feature the Shape Tape Foundation line on any of their YouTube channels, and hundreds of irate consumers openly vowed that they would never buy any of Tarte’s products again.

6 Concealer: The Apology

Here are screenshots of Tarte’s apology below to showcase the for- mat and tone.

Images via YourTango

7 Setting Powder: Locking in the Apology Tarte made these six crucial mistakes in their apology. Amandavido analyzed each one in detail below. 1. Tarte offered a contradictory mes- 4. Tarte downplayed the concerns of sage by saying there was no excuse for its POC by using insensitive wording in its error, while nonetheless using rushed pro- apology (i.e. “those who feel alienated in duction as an excuse for the limited shade the community” rather than “those who are range. alienated”).

2. Tarte decided to only post its apology 5. Tarte promised to bring the 10 other as an Instagram story, knowing that it would shades to market that had been delayed disappear from the internet within a day. in the hasty production stage, but that The company could have pinned the post assurance came across as hollow and as an to its profile so that it could have remained attempt to quickly recover from this original live on the platform indefinitely. thoughtlessness. 6. When summing up its apology, Tarte 3. The company included a promised to do better in the future, but it promotional hashtag (#shapetapenation) in failed to mention what steps the company the middle of its apology, which did not go was taking to ensure that an incident like over well with its critics. this would never happen again.

8 The reactions to Tarte’s apology and its attempts to redress the situation were overwhelmingly negative. Many called the apology mechanical and insincere, and criticized the company for failing to pull its product lines from shelves until all 25 shades were released. The boycott against Tarte’s products actually grew in size following Tarte’s apology, as hundreds of irate consumers joined the movement and took to social media to voice their displeasure.

9 What in Tarte-nation?

Three days later, Tarte’s brand marketing coordinator, Allison Knipe, posted a regrettable Instagram story photo that appeared to show Knape in a blackface-like product. Knipe was just trying to market one of the company’s newer skincare products (as the company was trying to expand into skincare), but the optics and timing were terrible considering the racially insensitive mess that the company had created less than a week earlier. Tarte did not wait before promoting its products and did not think about how it would reflect back on the brand.

Image via YourTango

10 Setting Spray: Refreshing Advice

For too long the cosmetics industry Fenty’s success, in comparison, has ignored POC unchecked. The highlights just how egregious Tarte’s move for inclusivity and equality has lapse in judgement was. Fenty made unequivocally challenged the status quo, sure that its wide range of consumers and left cosmetics companies reeling. were thoroughly represented in both This industry overhaul is more than its product lines and its marketing just communications — it’s a paradigm campaigns. shift that demands no individual be excluded. If Tarte had followed the communication steps that we have Tarte Cosmetics made a significant outlined for you in this study, it is very mistake when it released its limited likely that this fiasco would not have shade range, but the company’s escalated to the level that it did, and second biggest blunder was how badly you would not be reading about the it bungled its apology. Aside from a company in this case study today. considerable amount of lost potential sales, this lapse in judgement marred the company’s image and reputation going forward. 11 Red Carpet Ready If your company makes an offensive error in the future (and Amandavido certainly hopes that you do not), it is imperative that you: • outline the steps your brand is • own up to the error right taking to ensure it does not happen away again

• do not deflect • do not promote your company responsibility or any of its products in the apology

• post your apologies to platforms • detail how your brand will that will not vanish almost rectify the mistake immediately after posting

• use appropriate phrasing and • do not make unattainable promises have all communications reviewed by in your apology PR professionals (like Amandavido!) before posting

12 An Amandavido Corp. Production

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