Alissa Ashley just called out Milani Cosmetics after the brand blatantly disrespected all of the hard work she puts into her photo and video content. The beauty influencer may be known for how she beats a bomb face but she's also spent the last few years perfecting her camera skills. Nearly every photo on her Instagram page is a self-shot image. She also has an entire Instagram account dedicated to her photography. Unfortunately, Milani Cosmetics seemed to draw a little too much inspiration from her video style while promoting its new liquid bronzer.
Alissa Ashley performed a frustrated yet classy callout of the brand on Twitter and Milani Cosmetics delivered its own response.
First, check out the influencer's ultra-sultry video dedicated to Fenty Beauty's most recent Body Lava launch.
"Extra is my middle name at this point," she captioned the photo. "Lathering @fentybeauty #trophywife #bodylava all over myself because this is my mood for the summer."
Fenty Beauty even commented on the video writing "Now this right here…NEXT LEVEL DRIP."
What a freaking co-sign!
Now, peep Milani Cosmetics' now-deleted ad for its new liquid bronzer.
Alissa Ashley shared this video on her Twitter, which is a screenshot of the new Milani Cosmetics visuals. Look familiar?
LOOK FAMILIAR?
Swipe left to see the second video which shows Alissa Ashley's original Fenty Beauty Body Lava video. The similarities are undeniable.
"Ya'll see what I see or am I blind lmao," Alissa Ashley asked her Twitter followers.
"I had to do a double take," fellow influencer Nyma Tang replied to Alissa along with a blinking GIF. It seriously is a little baffling that the video was copied down to the exact movements.
One fan made an interesting observation about the video in comparison to Milani Cosmetics' other social media posts.
"…I just looked back at one year of their IG and they’ve never done a promo video with a model in this way," the fan wrote. "All their product promo videos are just the products with a graphic situation. Nahhhh, they stole this."
Hmm.
Alissa Ashley confirmed that she understands how body glitter videos can have similar looks, but the Milani Cosmetics video was too close for comfort.
"I ain’t the first person to rub body shimmer on myself but I know when someone copies my sh** (down to the movements ) [and] I’m glad y’all see it too lol," she wrote to her followers.
She actually is not even angry but more disappointed that certain things in the beauty industry still haven't changed.
"These big multimillion dollar companies lack integrity [and] I hope that changes one day," she lamented. "But for now, instead of paying hardworking creators, they constantly rip off [and] copy ideas [and] concepts."
Alissa Ashley also doesn't see a need for her followers to boycott Milani Cosmetics.
"You guys don’t have to boycott or anything lmao. You guys are so funny [and] really ride for me [and] I love that," she explained. "I'm super confident that my creative concepts are going to take me places so I’m just going to continue doing my lil thing!"
It's good to know that she's taking the high road and keeping a positive mindset.
Despite how similar the videos are, some critics do not believe Milani Cosmetics did anything wrong.
"If I had a product like that, I would totally make a video like that too," one person wrote on Instagram. "Not because it was done already but because it would be the best way to show my product."
Many believe the video style was simply the appropriate thing to do for a body glitter product.
"I feel like yes this is almost an exact replica of Alissa’s but then again it’s body glow oil. What other attractive promo video[s] could they do?" one fan inquired. "There’s not [really] much else u can do for [these] type of products [and], especially to make it look as GOOD as Alissa did bc she [really] did THAT."
Milani Cosmetics issued an apology to Alissa Ashley and the entire beauty community on its Instagram stories.
"We see inspiration everywhere. We never mean to overstep and we never want to offend anyone in the beauty community," the brand wrote. "We apologize and removed our content. We love you and thank you for bringing this to our attention and making us mindful. We want to keep an open dialogue with our followers and the people that inspire us daily."
Alissa Ashley also confirmed that Milani Cosmetics apologized to her and offered to send her "something" for the ripoff.
"I love @alissa.ashley and [shame on] Milani if they copied but aren't these campaigns filmed months in advance?" a fan asked.
"If it was (filmed months in advance which usually the things that are are the more big campaigns whereas this one was filmed in house at the office based on the behind the scenes they had on their stories earlier) they wouldn't be messaging my team apologizing and asking if they can send me something right now. Unfortunately, I believe their head of marketing saw my content and decided to pitch it for what they should do as advertisement for the new product."
"Content" has value and when you use someone's digital content so exactly, you need to acknowledge that fact and make sure they are paid for said value.
This is true no matter who the content creator is but it's especially disturbing that the brand did do this to a black woman. We are not going to skip this fact.
Black women are way too underserved in this beauty community for brands to just take their work with no credit and no check.
From product availability (which is slowly but surely changing) to a lack of adequate representation in beauty ads to the lack of representation in the actual beauty industry workplaces — black women are underserved at multiple levels in this industry. Beyond beauty, black women are still severely underpaid in comparison to people of other races with Hispanic women getting paid even worse. The pay gap is very real and these brands perpetuate the financial disparity when they find ways to pull content from women of color without hiring or even acknowledging them.
In an era when those facts are laid out so plainly, it is beyond disrespectful for a brand to rip off a black woman's content. Rationalizing that "it's body glitter so that's the way you market it" is not OK when the shots, angles, and sequencing are so similar. The brand also ADMITS that it did not "accidentally" use her content due to having a similar product but did, in fact, rip it off because it was "inspired."
Every step of the way — from the marketing to the hiring to the product development — brands need to hold themselves accountable and ensure that everyone who is deserving gets a seat at the table and eats well.
