Crisis Strategy Brief: Jaclyn Cosmetics and the Apoca-lipstick

In this post, I will be primarily giving a crisis strategy brief addressing what has happened during the past few weeks in regards to Jaclyn Cosmetics. There are many different ways this situation can turn out in the end, but I will focus most on my attention on what has already transpired and what I would’ve advised.

Description Of The Crisis

In late May 2019, beauty YouTuber and influencer, Jaclyn Hill, released her long-awaited cosmetics brand. Her first product was an extensive collection of nude lipsticks. However, around June 7, feedback started coming in spurring, what some have called, the apoca-lipstick (not to be confused with dramagedon 2.0). Allegations and photos included lumps, bumps, holes, hairs, fuzzies, and sharp-grainy objects in the lipsticks. These allegations were also claimed by a few top beauty influencers— a few even mentioning that they had the same issue with their PR packages. Other consumers claimed that the lipsticks smelled rancid and were moldy. Additionally, some consumers alleged that the lipsticks sent them to the hospital with bacterial issues such as e.coli and staph infections.

Get more information here: https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/Jaclyn-Hill-Lipstick-Controversy-46263512

Jaclyn’s PR Response

Jaclyn’s first official response seems to have been giving to Fox News with the following:

“The response to the launch of Jaclyn Cosmetics has been incredible. Of the incredible volume of orders that were placed at launch, we believe less than half of one percent of orders were impacted by compromised product. We are actively reaching out to our customers with questions and concerns and have added to our customer service team to make sure that any questions are swiftly addressed. We are keeping an eye on the Jaclyn Cosmetics social channels and info@jaclyncosmetics.com, and welcome all feedback. We love our customers and are proud of our successful launch.”

She later released a statement on her website: https://jaclyncosmetics.com/pages/customer-service

This statement was a thorough explanation of the allegations. However, complaints about this particular statement was that it wasn’t easy to find and it wasn’t believable. Additionally, it seems (I may have missed it) that there wasn’t a link to this statement from any of her social media channels.

On June 12, 2019, Jaclyn released a video explaining a few of the allegations made. In the video, she reinforced that her lipsticks are not moldy and “every single ingredient is FDA approved and they are not expired.” She further assured that the lipsticks are not going to hurt the consumer.

My Recommendations

I really wish Jaclyn would have recalled her products as soon as the photos and feedback came in. Recently, Johnsonville Sausages had a recall after a customer complained of finding hard, green plastic in one of their products. This caused approximately 95,000 pounds of sausages to be recalled and the company urged customers not to eat them. Holes are not a huge deal but hair, fuzzies, and sharp-grainy textures are. They are just as serious or more serious than finding plastic in sausages. So, an immediate recall would have been very appropriate for this situation.

A statement on the official Jaclyn Cosmetics social pages should’ve been made. I would’ve advised something like this:

“We hear the issues customers are having with our products and take them very seriously. We are issuing a recall and refund on all lipsticks. We urge customers to not use the lipsticks until further notice. Going forward, we will be investigating what happened and where we went wrong. We are truly sorry for this and appreciate your patience.”

After issuing a recall, I would’ve advised the brand to hire an independent law firm to do an extensive investigation on what happened. When allegations relating to hospital/doctor visits are being made, it’s important to have all of the brand’s bases covered. Hiring a law firm separate from Jaclyn’s representation and the cosmetic lab’s representation to investigate would close the speculation of bias.

Additionally, I would’ve advised for an independent lab to test the samples from returned lipsticks to see if there are any traces of bad bacteria.

While tests and investigations are happening, it’s important for Jaclyn to inform the public with any major updates. After the tests and investigations are complete, I would have advised for a summary of the report findings to be released to customers. A short statement should also be released on all social media pages.

If there is, in fact, a bacteria issue, a public apology must be made and potential lawsuits could be drawn against the company. If lawsuits are made, then a separate crisis communications strategy is warranted to address it.

I’ve seen some action to encourage the FDA to investigate the cosmetics. Although I’m not a lawyer, I would suspect that they would not investigate the brand for this, which is why I believe Jaclyn constantly used “FDA approved ingredients” in her response. According to the FDA, “FDA can pursue enforcement action against products on the market that are not in compliance with the law, or against firms or individuals who violate the law.” Is this breaking the law? I’m not really sure and can’t comment on that. However, if it is, then a separate crisis communications strategy is warranted for that as well.

My Opinion

I personally believe Jaclyn went about this the wrong way. There should have been an immediate recall and she took too long to respond from my crisis management point of view. Additionally, I don’t think she really issued an apology for the allegations made against her products, which is really unfortunate. I always believe that an immediate response and apology is warranted no matter what the crisis issue is. I think this is especially relevant when dealing with allegations as serious as this. Sometimes silence does work for small issues, but I definitely wouldn’t have taken this approach in this situation.

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Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash