When it comes to the beauty industry, one of the most well known crisis cases is that of Jaclyn Hill Cosmetics. To me, this case is quite interesting and so popular among makeup lovers, so I will be analyzing this crisis case as part of my assignment 3.
YouTuber Jaclyn Hill is widely known for her makeup related content. In May, 2019 she debuted her first ever lipstick collection launched called “So Rich Lipstick”. Everything seemed to be going well up until the launch. Once consumers started receiving their lipsticks in the mail, many noticed quite a few defects.
For starters, many people noticed what seemed like hairs and fuzz on their lipsticks. Beauty YouTuber RawBeautyKristi posted an image of her lipstick on twitter which gained quite the attraction.
Not only were people finding fuzz on their lipstick, but there were also cases where there were lumps and decomposing. Many claimed this could be mold. Customer Meghan James shared an image of this on Twitter as well.
To make matters worse, people were also finding pieces of plastic in the lipsticks. Some even claimed to have found metal in them. User Krystal Duarte shared on twitter in lipstick.
All of these images kept circulating on social media. Many influencers were also posting videos on social media either bashing the lipsticks or giving explanations as to why they look the way that they do, with examples such as bad ingredients, melting points, and simply being expired.
Jaclyn Hill handled this crisis on social media very poorly. She responded to all the controversy on Twitter and eventually YouTube. However, these replies were not appropriate.
Jaclyn started off by replying back to the tweets that included the images of the lipsticks. Her first response was very snarky and not professional. She began blaming and attacking the customer for the lumpiness of the lipstick by stating that it was “obviously” the customer's fault. Jaclyn eventually deleted the tweet and stated that she did so because her tweet was too harsh. To me, this was all handled poorly and it showed a very immature part of Jaclyn.
Jaclyn Hill later replied to RawBeautyKristi’s tweet stating that the fibers on the lipsticks weren’t hairs but rather fibers from "cotton gloves" used by factory workers. Many people did not believe this response as it is unsanitary for workers to use cotton gloves rather than latex ones. This to me felt ungenuine and it appears as if Jaclyn was simply finding a scapegoat.
Eventually, on June 12, Jaclyn Hill finally posted a video on her YouTube channel addressing everything. In the video, she explained why the lipsticks were the way they were and she stated that she will never be working with the factory she did. She also stated multiple times that she is willing to give refunds to people for their purchases.
After the video was posted, it received negative criticism. Many viewers felt that Jaclyn was not being fully transparent, honest, or even empathetic. Her YouTube apology video felt ungenuine to many and felt like a classic “Influencer Apology”. Jaclyn Hill eventually deleted all of her social media platforms. I agree with these criticisms.
As I have stated already, I believe Jaclyn Hill handled this crisis very poorly. For starters, her replies on Twitter were not professional at all. It is very unprofessional to be snarky and harsh to customers. Not only that, but blaming the consumers for her product defects is also wrong and unfair. Additionally, her YouTube apology video did feel ungenuine. Not only was it posted late, but it felt like a stereotypical influencer apology video.
What I would have done differently was first to reply back in a timely manner. It took Jaclyn Hill a while to reply back to people once the images started circulating. Quickly addressing the concerns would have shown that she cared for the situation as a whole. Additionally, what I would have done differently was to not attack or blame the consumers for the lipstick defects. Jaclyn’s response really showed a negative side of her and her professionalism. It is never okay to attack your consumers in such a harsh way. Customers may oftentimes be rude, but that does not mean you can necessarily be rude back because it negatively affects you and your brand. I would have replied in an apologetic manner.
An example would have been “I am sorry to hear that this had been found in the lipsticks. I will be addressing all of this on my social media platforms soon. For now, please send more images of the lipsticks to the company website and we will issue a refund immediately”.
What this response does is that it immediately addresses the problem, states that an in depth explanation will be coming soon, and issues a refund as a temporary solution. This is what I would have done in Jaclyn’s position.
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