May 22, 2023 • 11 mins
Bethenny reveals failed influencer coops and what products actually got a boost from an attempted take-down.
Plus, a scandal and its fallout. Find out who it affected most and whether or not they deserved what they got.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
So this is just be influenced. This is a show
where we talk about the influencer movement and all of
the drama and scandal and deception and misconception about really
(00:32):
all products, but the beauty space is extremely relevant and
influencing is very prevalent in the beauty space. So let's
talk about the Jones Road Foundation scandal now on TikTok.
What's interesting is scandals turned into sales. We talked about
Miscarrogate with Mikayla and Lareel, and that turned into mad
(00:56):
sales because everybody wanted to try it to see if
it actually was good or if Mikayla was just saying
that it was good and lying because she had fake
eyelashes on. So Loreal won and Mikayla won too because
she had at that time like fifty million views on
a post. So TikTok, it's so funny and people trying
(01:16):
to cancel brands and people the brands win, So it's
ironic someone's when everybody's trying to deinfluence a product, it
ends up being influencing. So deinfluencing is influencing. So an
example is Jones wrote what the Foundation scandal, so Jones wrote,
(01:37):
as a brand that was created by Bobby Brown. This
is a very confusing situation in the brand of beauty
and in branding overall, and in why it's very confusing
when an intellectual property is divided or confusing, there's confusion
in the marketplace, they call it. So when I sold
(01:59):
Skinny Girl cocktails, everybody thought I sold the entire brand
of Skinny Girl. So when I have Skinny Girl salad dressing,
people think I don't own the brand Skinny Girl anymore. Why.
Because people don't usually chop up and only sell one
part of a brand. People usually sell the whole brand.
And it was a big contention in me doing my
deal because I refused to sell the entire brand when
(02:21):
I didn't have to. I only sold Skinny Girl and liquor.
So I owned Skinny Girl and everything besides liquor. It's
confusing because people think that I sold the whole brand. Now,
Bobby Brown is the name of a human being and
a makeup artist. She sold the brand Bobby Brown to
(02:41):
Esta lauter Estie latter owns Bobby Brown's name in beauty.
Bobby Brown herself had a non compete, just like I did.
In cocktails. So Bobby Brown, when her non compete was up,
she went back in. She decided to go back in
(03:02):
on makeup, so she went in with Jones Road. But
everybody's watching Bobby Brown talk about Jones Road, and everybody
thinks that Jones Road is Bobby Brown and Bobby Brown
is Jones Road. So I've worked with Bobby Brown and
I love their products, and I've talked about Bobby Brown,
and everybody thinks that Bobby Brown is Bobby Brown. But
Bobby Brown is a brand owned by Esdae Lauder and
(03:23):
Jones Road is a brand owned by Bobby Brown. So
it's confusing. So Bobby Brown the human, not Bobby Brown,
the brand. Started a new brand called Jones Road. She
released this foundation. It's called What the Foundation. She's out
promoting it everywhere on social media. That it's different. They're
(03:44):
spending a lot of money on it. You could tell
it's not the same. It's unique. It's like skincare. Everybody
wanted to try it. It's one of the most common
questions I get asked from people on social media is
have you tried Jones Road? Just overall, because she's promoting
What the Foundation and all these bombs. Bombs is a
very new and in and hip thing in skincare, cleansing,
(04:07):
in moisturization, and in foundation. So she was promoting this
what the Foundation. So it comes in a jar and
you open it up like you twist it off, and
it's got a strong scent that I like. It's a
very pretty like fragrancy, but natural and just it's a
good scent and it just makes you feel like feminine.
(04:29):
But you know that it's a clean brand because I
think she's pitched it as a clean brand, which is
another conversation because it's hard to define what a clean
brand is. There's no FDA stamp, so there are many
different definitions for clean. Some people think vegan is clean,
animal cruelty free is clean. It's a whole different thing.
Talc free is another term and phrase because TALC has
(04:51):
led to problems. So that's a whole fucking shit stew
of like what is really clean? But it seems to
be a fairly thoughtful brand as it pertains to what's
healthy and not healthy. So what the Foundation is this
(05:18):
jar product that you open up and it's very like
whipped in foamy, you know what I mean? Like it's
like it's it's like yogurt that has a lot of
air in it versus being dense. But when I got it,
it was very coagulated. And they even now say you
have to stir it up, which is not something people
normally want to do with their foundation. But all these
rules and regulations led to this thing being more intriguing
(05:42):
instead of being intimidating, And like, why do I need
to have instructions with the foundation? And it is what
the foundation, and it's oil separates from the solid. So
I presume if you just drain out the oil like
it's a piece of pizza, you're taking the oil off
of the other parts of the foundation won't work the same.
(06:03):
And I've in fact drained off the oil because if
you don't like oil, you're not gonna like this. I've
drained off the oil and then the rest has been
pasty and like it's just a weird product. I like it,
but I like a lot of different products because I
can make products work for me. If something's too pasty,
mix it with a serum. If something's too dark, mix
it with your SPF and then it looks lighter. Like
there's a thousand things you could do if something doesn't
(06:23):
have SPF, mix your SPF into it, like mixed glow
into it, mixed serum into it. Mix it's it's like cooking,
and no one product works for everyone, and everybody like
doesn't think outside the box the way they do in cooking,
and they should. So this product, this one creator Meredith,
I think it's Ducksberry, who has like fifteen million followers.
(06:43):
She tried it. She puts on fifty pounds of foundation.
Always she's got like this gimmick when she puts on
fifteen pounds of foundation and everyone was copying her and
doing the foundation challenge and then she sponges it off
and it looks like your skin is gonna be trapped
and it's acne central and it's her gimmick. That is
probably true, but it's like a gimmick that works, and
it made everyone hated that she does that, but that
(07:06):
was something that made her more famous. So it's another
one of these deinfluencing things where it ends up bringing
viewers to the person. So she talked bad about this product.
She didn't like it, she didn't understand she was trying
to rub it in. And then every other influencer was
feeling badly for poor Bobby Brown, the person at Jones Road,
(07:27):
who had launched a new product, and some of them were,
you know, everyone was buying it to try it, just
the comments because it's something that will go viral, and
they want the hashtag and they want the views to
talk about something current and topical. So it was a fine,
weird product that everybody was buying, and it became a
foundation scandal and everyone was feeling bad for poor Bobby
(07:47):
Brown who people were talking about this foundation that doesn't
blend in well because it was a commercial against it.
But the commercials against things on TikTok end up being
commercials for them. It's like, you know, when you're with
your friend, your ants, or somebody's like, oh, tastes disgusting,
taste this, So everybody buys it to taste it, which
is the opposite of it being bad for the brand.
But it's counterintuitive. So that was the Jones Road foundation scandal.
(08:14):
It's a fine foundation. You don't need to buy it,
like you don't need to run, unless you just are
curious and want to spend I guess what's probably forty
dollars for something. She also makes these bombs that are
a little sticky. The brand is fine. I guess it's she.
You know, the brand is fine, but it's a good lesson.
This brand is a good lesson in influencer marketing. They've
got influencers talking about it. They're saying, the mascare is
(08:34):
sold out and sold that in ten minutes, like you know,
then you all want it, and like is this foundation?
What everyone's saying? And then everyone wants it? Like they're
doing a great job at influencing and turning deinfluencing into influencing,
whether all of it's intentional or unintentional. They're just leaning
in to knowing that being talked about on TikTok means
(08:56):
selling products. And that's the Meredith Foundation and scandal too.
Meredith pumps all this product on her hands and she
gets this mask and it's in her eyebrows and on
her lips and it's just like shock value, and so
everybody's talking about it, and then it became the Meredith
Foundation Challenge where everybody was taking fifty pounds and talking about, oh,
it's gross, but blending it in and it did end
(09:18):
up looking good. And she does that as shock value
to have a conversation as if it's normal to distract
us with the fact that she's talking about her boyfriend
or getting a Chanelle bag. But she's really pumping fifteen
pumps a foundation on her hand, and that's all we
can focus on and get a story on the side.
So that's very TikTok. Like you're talking about, well, I
have this burning sensation in my you know, vaginal region
(09:40):
and and you know, and you're talking about that while
putting on, you know, ten pounds of under eye concealer.
Actually no, you're like, hey, I made a Tunifish sandwich
for lunch while you're putting on like clown makeup that
we can't keep our eyes off of. But like we
sort of got the Tunifish sandwich story, but like we're
really focused on the you know, the clown makeup the
(10:01):
person has on. It's like a marketing gimmick that works.
So there are two things going on on TikTok. Many times,
usually it's like it's Alex Earl, the big influencer, talking
about her parents coming to dinner, or that she's dating
or that she went and Nates sushi, But we're also
paying attention to her makeup. So sometimes you're really paying
(10:22):
attention to the story but also catching some of the makeup.
Sometimes you really are interested in the makeup, but the
person is also telling a story. So there are so
many different styles to this that are two plots going on,
and you got to focus on what plot you're interested in.
And sometimes you're like, oh, shit, I wanted to watch
her do her makeup, but I was so interested in
a story, or shit, I wanted to hear the story,
(10:44):
but I got sucked into the eyeshadow. And it's not
that he's going to walk and shoot gum. So it
is an art to do both at the same time.
Sometimes I'm trying to do my makeup and talk and
i stop talking because I'm just not good at it,
and I'm trying to focus on what colors do use
for my eyes. So there's a dance there and these talkers,
it looks unintentional, looks natural. They're dancing
So this is just be influenced. This is a show
where we talk about the influencer movement and all of
the drama and scandal and deception and misconception about really
(00:32):
all products, but the beauty space is extremely relevant and
influencing is very prevalent in the beauty space. So let's
talk about the Jones Road Foundation scandal now on TikTok.
What's interesting is scandals turned into sales. We talked about
Miscarrogate with Mikayla and Lareel, and that turned into mad
(00:56):
sales because everybody wanted to try it to see if
it actually was good or if Mikayla was just saying
that it was good and lying because she had fake
eyelashes on. So Loreal won and Mikayla won too because
she had at that time like fifty million views on
a post. So TikTok, it's so funny and people trying
(01:16):
to cancel brands and people the brands win, So it's
ironic someone's when everybody's trying to deinfluence a product, it
ends up being influencing. So deinfluencing is influencing. So an
example is Jones wrote what the Foundation scandal, so Jones wrote,
(01:37):
as a brand that was created by Bobby Brown. This
is a very confusing situation in the brand of beauty
and in branding overall, and in why it's very confusing
when an intellectual property is divided or confusing, there's confusion
in the marketplace, they call it. So when I sold
(01:59):
Skinny Girl cocktails, everybody thought I sold the entire brand
of Skinny Girl. So when I have Skinny Girl salad dressing,
people think I don't own the brand Skinny Girl anymore. Why.
Because people don't usually chop up and only sell one
part of a brand. People usually sell the whole brand.
And it was a big contention in me doing my
deal because I refused to sell the entire brand when
(02:21):
I didn't have to. I only sold Skinny Girl and liquor.
So I owned Skinny Girl and everything besides liquor. It's
confusing because people think that I sold the whole brand. Now,
Bobby Brown is the name of a human being and
a makeup artist. She sold the brand Bobby Brown to
(02:41):
Esta lauter Estie latter owns Bobby Brown's name in beauty.
Bobby Brown herself had a non compete, just like I did.
In cocktails. So Bobby Brown, when her non compete was up,
she went back in. She decided to go back in
(03:02):
on makeup, so she went in with Jones Road. But
everybody's watching Bobby Brown talk about Jones Road, and everybody
thinks that Jones Road is Bobby Brown and Bobby Brown
is Jones Road. So I've worked with Bobby Brown and
I love their products, and I've talked about Bobby Brown,
and everybody thinks that Bobby Brown is Bobby Brown. But
Bobby Brown is a brand owned by Esdae Lauder and
(03:23):
Jones Road is a brand owned by Bobby Brown. So
it's confusing. So Bobby Brown the human, not Bobby Brown,
the brand. Started a new brand called Jones Road. She
released this foundation. It's called What the Foundation. She's out
promoting it everywhere on social media. That it's different. They're
(03:44):
spending a lot of money on it. You could tell
it's not the same. It's unique. It's like skincare. Everybody
wanted to try it. It's one of the most common
questions I get asked from people on social media is
have you tried Jones Road? Just overall, because she's promoting
What the Foundation and all these bombs. Bombs is a
very new and in and hip thing in skincare, cleansing,
(04:07):
in moisturization, and in foundation. So she was promoting this
what the Foundation. So it comes in a jar and
you open it up like you twist it off, and
it's got a strong scent that I like. It's a
very pretty like fragrancy, but natural and just it's a
good scent and it just makes you feel like feminine.
(04:29):
But you know that it's a clean brand because I
think she's pitched it as a clean brand, which is
another conversation because it's hard to define what a clean
brand is. There's no FDA stamp, so there are many
different definitions for clean. Some people think vegan is clean,
animal cruelty free is clean. It's a whole different thing.
Talc free is another term and phrase because TALC has
(04:51):
led to problems. So that's a whole fucking shit stew
of like what is really clean? But it seems to
be a fairly thoughtful brand as it pertains to what's
healthy and not healthy. So what the Foundation is this
(05:18):
jar product that you open up and it's very like
whipped in foamy, you know what I mean? Like it's
like it's it's like yogurt that has a lot of
air in it versus being dense. But when I got it,
it was very coagulated. And they even now say you
have to stir it up, which is not something people
normally want to do with their foundation. But all these
rules and regulations led to this thing being more intriguing
(05:42):
instead of being intimidating, And like, why do I need
to have instructions with the foundation? And it is what
the foundation, and it's oil separates from the solid. So
I presume if you just drain out the oil like
it's a piece of pizza, you're taking the oil off
of the other parts of the foundation won't work the same.
(06:03):
And I've in fact drained off the oil because if
you don't like oil, you're not gonna like this. I've
drained off the oil and then the rest has been
pasty and like it's just a weird product. I like it,
but I like a lot of different products because I
can make products work for me. If something's too pasty,
mix it with a serum. If something's too dark, mix
it with your SPF and then it looks lighter. Like
there's a thousand things you could do if something doesn't
(06:23):
have SPF, mix your SPF into it, like mixed glow
into it, mixed serum into it. Mix it's it's like cooking,
and no one product works for everyone, and everybody like
doesn't think outside the box the way they do in cooking,
and they should. So this product, this one creator Meredith,
I think it's Ducksberry, who has like fifteen million followers.
(06:43):
She tried it. She puts on fifty pounds of foundation.
Always she's got like this gimmick when she puts on
fifteen pounds of foundation and everyone was copying her and
doing the foundation challenge and then she sponges it off
and it looks like your skin is gonna be trapped
and it's acne central and it's her gimmick. That is
probably true, but it's like a gimmick that works, and
it made everyone hated that she does that, but that
(07:06):
was something that made her more famous. So it's another
one of these deinfluencing things where it ends up bringing
viewers to the person. So she talked bad about this product.
She didn't like it, she didn't understand she was trying
to rub it in. And then every other influencer was
feeling badly for poor Bobby Brown, the person at Jones Road,
(07:27):
who had launched a new product, and some of them were,
you know, everyone was buying it to try it, just
the comments because it's something that will go viral, and
they want the hashtag and they want the views to
talk about something current and topical. So it was a fine,
weird product that everybody was buying, and it became a
foundation scandal and everyone was feeling bad for poor Bobby
(07:47):
Brown who people were talking about this foundation that doesn't
blend in well because it was a commercial against it.
But the commercials against things on TikTok end up being
commercials for them. It's like, you know, when you're with
your friend, your ants, or somebody's like, oh, tastes disgusting,
taste this, So everybody buys it to taste it, which
is the opposite of it being bad for the brand.
But it's counterintuitive. So that was the Jones Road foundation scandal.
(08:14):
It's a fine foundation. You don't need to buy it,
like you don't need to run, unless you just are
curious and want to spend I guess what's probably forty
dollars for something. She also makes these bombs that are
a little sticky. The brand is fine. I guess it's she.
You know, the brand is fine, but it's a good lesson.
This brand is a good lesson in influencer marketing. They've
got influencers talking about it. They're saying, the mascare is
(08:34):
sold out and sold that in ten minutes, like you know,
then you all want it, and like is this foundation?
What everyone's saying? And then everyone wants it? Like they're
doing a great job at influencing and turning deinfluencing into influencing,
whether all of it's intentional or unintentional. They're just leaning
in to knowing that being talked about on TikTok means
(08:56):
selling products. And that's the Meredith Foundation and scandal too.
Meredith pumps all this product on her hands and she
gets this mask and it's in her eyebrows and on
her lips and it's just like shock value, and so
everybody's talking about it, and then it became the Meredith
Foundation Challenge where everybody was taking fifty pounds and talking about, oh,
it's gross, but blending it in and it did end
(09:18):
up looking good. And she does that as shock value
to have a conversation as if it's normal to distract
us with the fact that she's talking about her boyfriend
or getting a Chanelle bag. But she's really pumping fifteen
pumps a foundation on her hand, and that's all we
can focus on and get a story on the side.
So that's very TikTok. Like you're talking about, well, I
have this burning sensation in my you know, vaginal region
(09:40):
and and you know, and you're talking about that while
putting on, you know, ten pounds of under eye concealer.
Actually no, you're like, hey, I made a Tunifish sandwich
for lunch while you're putting on like clown makeup that
we can't keep our eyes off of. But like we
sort of got the Tunifish sandwich story, but like we're
really focused on the you know, the clown makeup the
(10:01):
person has on. It's like a marketing gimmick that works.
So there are two things going on on TikTok. Many times,
usually it's like it's Alex Earl, the big influencer, talking
about her parents coming to dinner, or that she's dating
or that she went and Nates sushi, But we're also
paying attention to her makeup. So sometimes you're really paying
(10:22):
attention to the story but also catching some of the makeup.
Sometimes you really are interested in the makeup, but the
person is also telling a story. So there are so
many different styles to this that are two plots going on,
and you got to focus on what plot you're interested in.
And sometimes you're like, oh, shit, I wanted to watch
her do her makeup, but I was so interested in
a story, or shit, I wanted to hear the story,
(10:44):
but I got sucked into the eyeshadow. And it's not
that he's going to walk and shoot gum. So it
is an art to do both at the same time.
Sometimes I'm trying to do my makeup and talk and
i stop talking because I'm just not good at it,
and I'm trying to focus on what colors do use
for my eyes. So there's a dance there and these talkers,
it looks unintentional, looks natural. They're dancing
Host
Bethenny Frankel
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