‘Boycott Maybelline’ Trends on Social Media Over Transgender Influencer Partnership

Maybelline cosmetics displayed in the backstage of New York Fashion Week Feb. 13, 2019. (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for IMG）

Maybelline is the latest brand to face a social media backlash over its partnership with transgender TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney.

A video of Mulvaney, a 26-year-old man identifying as a woman, applying Maybelline products was first posted to TikTok in March. Maybelline shared the clip to its official Instagram account, writing, “Maybelline Glam all day, every day!”

“So proud to be part of [Mulvaney’s] incredible journey as she celebrated 365 days of being a girl on Monday. Thanks for letting us be part of your special day LOVE YA!” it added.

The clip has recently re-emerged on Twitter and triggered much outrage towards the women’s cosmetic brand, similar to what’s facing by beer brand Bud Light.

“Now that your makeup appears to be for men, I guess you don’t need female customers anymore. Thanks for letting us know,” one Twitter user wrote, adding the hashtag “BoycottMaybelline.”

The hashtag trended on Twitter on Tuesday after several prominent conservatives, such as author Jordan B. Peterson, called for a boycott of Maybelline. Those calls come amid an ongoing boycott of Bud Light over the beer giant’s decision to partner with Mulvaney for a marketing campaign aimed at young drinkers.

According to reports, The Bud Light boycott has led to a dramatic decline in sales and left two executives taking “a leave of absence.” One of the absent executives is Alissa Heinerscheid, a vice president of marketing who oversaw the ill-fated partnership with Mulvaney.

Mulvaney became famous for his “365 Days of Girlhood” daily TikTok video series, which documented a full year since he began to publicly identify as a transgender woman. Those videos, in which Mulvaney is often seen wearing cartoonish “girly” outfits while performing stereotypical feminine workouts, garnered him over 1 billion views and more than 10 million followers on the platform.

In an episode titled “Day 271—the great tampon debacle,” Mulvaney directly addressed women who don’t appreciate the way he parodies women, accusing them of trying to induce “pain and trauma” in him.

“I’m not enjoying my womanhood as much as I was, and my pain might be different than your pain, but it’s very real,” he said in his monologue. “But I’m still a woman and I’m tired. We don’t have to be BFFs, and you don’t have to follow me. Just please don’t call the police on me if we bump into each other in the bathroom.”

In another video that went viral last month, Mulvaney portrayed Eloise, a 6-year-old girl from a popular 1950s children’s book series. Captioned “Childhood dream unlocked,” the video features Mulvaney wearing an outfit including a pink bow and a short skirt and saying, “I am Eloise. I am 6.”

The video drew more criticism on social media, including from conservative commentator CJ Pearson of PragerU, who suggested such behavior is a sign of mental illness.

“Pretending to be a woman wasn’t enough so now he’s pretending to be a little girl?” Pearson wrote. “This isn’t normal. This is mental illness.”