Here’s Why Your Tween Might Be Talking About The Tarte Influencer Trip & What You Need To Know
The makeup brand paid mom influencers to vacation in Bora Bora. But they’re likely looking to influence our kids.
Social media influencers hopped on private jets headed to Bora Bora courtesy of Tarte Cosmetics, and everything from their over-the-ocean cabanas to their plus-one was seemingly covered by the popular makeup company.
All of the influencers also received a promotional package ahead of the trip worth thousands of dollars, including Nike dunks and personalized items.
While a lot of moms on social media are eye-rolling the trip, a lot of their tween daughters are eating up every second of it.
Several #momtok influencers headed on the trip — including Emilie Kiser, Avery Woods, and Vidya Gopalan — and while their outfits are on point and the backdrop for their TikTok dances is stunning — the entire brand stunt is not sitting well.
Several TikTok users think the entire concept of a paid trip for rich influencers is in poor taste. The idea of successful, wealthy social media influencers getting an all-expenses paid trip to Bora Bora with a plus-one is a bit unfathomable.
Why not send a bunch of teachers, nurses, first responders, or even Tarte employees on this trip instead? Do some good in the world instead of spoiling already rich people?
In my humble opinion, Tarte missed the mark.
One TikTok user says that how I feel doesn’t matter in this case. She says Tarte doesn’t care what people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and even 50s have to say about their over-the-top influencer trip.
They care about what our daughters think, and unfortunately, they’re into it.
“This trip is not for you. The 20-, 30-, 40-year-olds that are watching this in disgust and concern, this is not for you,” Cheldin Barlatt Rumer says in her video.
“This trip is for the 10-, 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds that are watching this and running to Sephora, begging their parent to buy them overpriced lipstick and such. This trip is not for those who pay bills. This trip is not to influence those who actually balance a budget. This is the Disney princess of our time.”
She goes on to say that the little girls who used to watch Disney movies, dreaming of being Cinderella and Ariel, finding a prince, and living happily ever after, which she says was “a fictional aspiration,” are gone. Now, they all want to be on an influencer trip to Bora Bora.
Rumer also points out that the strategic play by Tarte has “tween market” written all over it in more subtle ways, including the kinds of clothes the influencers are wearing and what kinds of items were included in their promotional packages. She says Tarte is targeting the tween market to make new consumers, aka the Sephora tweens.
“It’s not for us to relate. Look at what they’re wearing. They’re wearing the same sweatpants, the same literally retro materials, the record player, the dunks. They’re wearing the sneakers that 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds have on their wish list for the holiday,” she says.
Several other TikTok users have pointed out that Tarte putting on this trip seems in poor taste due to the state of the economy and how several million people are living paycheck to paycheck. Companies are literally marketing to families who have to serve cereal for dinner.
Rumer knows that older people, paying bills and living in the “real world,” know that this kind of life is unattainable. That’s why Tarte is not looking to market to us anymore. They want our kids.
“This is an aspirational trip for those that are running to Ulta and Sephora, those that are in line, begging their parents to buy them overpriced lip balm. This is what the trip is. This is the new Disney princess,” she says.
“So for all of us that are getting concerned about it being approachable for us, I think we got to take a look at the strategic play that they are making on young people. This is not for us. We know better, but you know who doesn’t? 10-, 11-, 12-, and 13-year-olds who do not pay a mortgage, who can look at these influencers as their Disney princesses and aspire to be them.”
If your daughter suddenly seems interested in Tarte makeup, asking to head to Sephora to buy some tubing mascara or concealer, this highly publicized and controversial influencer trip might be to blame.
