Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or do not have any social media installed, you must have come across the 10-year olds on instagram (if you’re lucky, I have even seen 5-year olds) obsessed with expensive skincare from Sephora, and as dermatologists claim, ruining their skin barriers from using products designed for anti-aging or hormonal acne.
In the beginning of 2023, the trend of Get Ready With Me (GRWM) Videos, from creators such as Alix Earle, entranced young girls into the glamorous lives of teens, and young women. These videos would feature an older girl’s process to get ready to go out and do anything from partying, to hanging out with friends, to even grocery shopping. While chatting about their lives, applying makeup and doing their hair, these girls would gain millions of views.
It is no surprise that beauty and skincare brands jumped at the chance to get their products featured in such videos, since social media marketing has proved to be very efficient, with some earning millions of views, and offering substantial brand exposure. Brands like “Bubble”, “Drunk Elephant” and “Glow Recipe” have amassed millions of dollars ($70 million to be exact) of revenue in 2023 from impressionable teens and children purchasing beloved star products showcased in a multitude of GRWM videos.
Sadly, at this point in time, I see more children posting GRWM videos than adults on my for you page. No doubt, influenced by older girls and seeing social media as an example of how they should act, the “account administered by mom” youngsters have started popping up, saying things like “I’m obsessed” repeatedly, while spraying perfume wrong, or tapping their nails obnoxiously onto products in a failed attempt at ASMR. While I am a strong believer that all children go through awkward phases, and have better things to do than to hate on them, I doubt that playing with $75 creams online is beneficial to their development or should be published in the first place. Especially if said products are not designed for their healthy skin, in no need of any products “except a cleanser, a moisturiser and an SPF”, as most dermatologists have mentioned in their videos, as a desperate attempt to stop children from ruining their skin barriers.
In most cases, I can’t even tell if parents have the ability to say no to their kids at all, fueling their skincare routines consisting of 5-10 products, costing over 1000 dollars, or are telling them to act this way, to gain more views and monetise their children. What’s even more alarming, is that brands have started sending PR packages to these young girls, and are promoting these products to their young audiences, with the vast majority, 25% of TikTok users being between 10 and 19 years old, further spreading the Sephora epidemic.
Have brands become so neglectful of the consequences of young children using their products that they exploit them for higher revenues? Do you agree with the absurdity of the situation, or has the world changed, and this should be normalised?
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