Another month, another scandal. Welcome to Dramarama, where I break down the scuffles happening in the beauty industry. May was mostly uneventful until the last week when influencers put their feet down and demanded to receive their dues.

I Want My Money!

I have heard people complain that influencers don’t have “real jobs” but I’ll be the first to respond that content creation is not easy. Most content creators struggle to be seen by their favorite brands, so I’m sure they get ecstatic to get recognition and be asked to curate content for a brand’s new campaign.

In the case of several influencers lately, they have created phenomenal content, either makeup looks on Instagram or tutorials on Youtube or Tik Tok. One such influencer is Alexa (@ makeup_with_alexa) an influencer whose looks are always on point. She vented her frustrations on Twitter, explaining that Juvia’s Place had been ignoring her emails and DMs about payments (screenshots below). 

There was another creator saying something similar, getting the run around from Juvia’s Place (seen below). Another comment suggested that instead of funneling money into new products and campaigns, the brand should focus on honoring its contracts with influencers and paying on time.

Juvia’s did pay the influencers eventually after being tagged repeatedly by other social media users but this is far from being the first incident where a brand asked for content and didn’t want to pay for it. Shameful practice and I hope that other influencers keep track of these brands so they never get screwed over. 

My take: I am livid for Alexa and all of the other influencers/content creators. We pour our blood, sweat, and tears into whatever we create (blog, Youtube video, TikTok, or IG reels). It takes hours to script and film and edit. I have not worked with a brand for paid content but I would be just as irritated as Alexa was. There have been other brands that have been called out but this is utter bullcrap. I have no problem with someone bringing something like this to the public eye because influencers try to handle things privately but by all means put these brands on blast. I know which brands to avoid if my time ever comes for sponsored content.

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*Photo credits to Makeup by Alexa via Twitter