The Value Paradox | Marketing to Post Partum Women, "Engagement Giveaways" & Some Enlightening Truths

What do Wellbel, Nutrafol, Divi and Vegamour all have in common?

They participate in false advertising. Like, a lot. And claim it’s “science”.

I would bet a lot of money there are some die hard Jessica Defino, author of “The Unpublishable”, fans on De-Influenced’s subscriber list.

Which, side note, we have almost hit 1000 subscribers and I could not be more grateful. I have a bit of a wild goal to hit 10,000 of you gorgeous de-influencers by the end of 2024 and am overwhelmed at how many people are already here to experience this space grow. Eek! So much goodness to come!

But, I digress, back to Jessica’s genius…

The ‘Science of Skincare’ Isn’t Science or Care

Funnily enough, coming of age in the era of social media [I was a freshman in college when Zuckerberg launched FB], has taught me to slow down, not speed up. I rarely give “hot takes”, although I love consuming them from others, instead I like to let things percolate. It was just about a year ago when my attention was pulled back to a certain subset of the creator economy via The De-Influenced debacle AND Jessica released the above article, which got me ruminating on the disturbing parallels between the marketing of skin care and the marketing of scalp care…

As someone who dealt with extremely painful, and visible, cystic acne for well over a decade I am intimately familiar with the pseudoscience of skincare. Along with how the promotional promise of product efficacy drove me to spend an astronomical amount searching for a solution. The money spent acted as proof that I recognized my physical shortcomings and was working hard to improve them. I believed that my acne wasn’t only a nuisance to me, but to everyone who had to look at me. Therein lies the power of the patriarchal beauty standards and those who are enslaved to them, which we all are to varying degrees.

Luckily, I wised up and brought my concerns to my naturopath, who is also an MD. An elite combo, in my opinon. She suggested I remove dairy from my diet, as I am acutely prone to inflammation, before trying more potent products or invasive and costly procedures. Lo and behold a few months later my cystic acne disappeared for good and all I had to spend/endure was a $25 co-pay and a 30 minute wellness visit.

Obviously, not every solution is simple. Sometimes the solution is time. Sometimes the solution is a change in diet. Sometimes the solution is a mix of things. Sometimes the solution is a proper diagnosis. But rarely is the solution a product. So. Why do so many people buy into it? Probably because their favorite celebrity/influencer swore up and down it worked for them…

Up until the launch of Divi’s scalp serum in the summer of 2021 Dani Austin was claiming Nutrafol transformed her hair… I was skeptical then, but didn’t have the context and knowledge I do today to pinpoint exactly why I felt so “icky” witnessing it at the time.

Given that I dipped my toe into fast influencing in 2018/2019 I was around for the hair loss, the wigs, the promotion of Nutrafol (or whatever product they were contracted to promote at the time), the extensions, the root spray, the faux “transparency” and “authenticity” and all of #danislittlelies. It was odd, to say the least, but Dani Austin was the tip of the iceberg…