Tarte faces backlash for Snatch Sticks marketing mirroring plastic surgery

Various social-media users are now calling out Tarte, accusing the company of making people feel as if they aren’t naturally beautiful, have flaws and/or require plastic surgery. Others say the company is trivializing emergency services and making light of situations in which people would need to use an actual ambulance. And some are commenting they will boycott the company and not use its products anymore.

“This whole PR campaign is disgusting. Do better,” one person commented on Tarte’s own TikTok of the “glambulance.” “Sending influencers pictures of their faces with potential surgeries should genuinely result in y’all being sued for emotional distress,” another person wrote on the same video.

In a comment to Modern Retail, a Tarte spokesperson said the campaign “was always about makeup artistry and having fun with contour.”

“The campaign intentionally played with the visual language of cosmetic procedures to make the opposite point: You can create the look of more sculpted or defined features temporarily with makeup, without a procedure,” they said.

“It was never intended to suggest that anyone needs to change their appearance or that cosmetic procedures are something people should aspire to,” the spokesperson added. “Beauty is personal, and we respect that some people experienced the creative differently than we intended. We listen when our community tells us that. At the same time, we’re looking at the full response to the campaign. Ninety-six percent of measured conversation around Snatch Stick has been positive.”

Indeed, not all responses to Tarte’s new campaign are negative. One commenter on a creator’s TikTok about the “glambulance” said, “You guys are being too sensitive lol!! It’s just makeup!!” Another person commented on Tarte’s Instagram, “So cute!!! Need to get snatched!!!” And one creator, responding to a commenter, wrote, “Tarte is not suggesting anyone needs surgery. I personally LOVED IT.”

But the backlash also follows other controversies from the brand. In 2025, Tarte held a “Tarte on fire” theme night for influencers at the same time in which wildfires were spreading across Los Angeles. In 2023, Tarte flew beauty influencers to Dubai on a private jet — a decision some called tone-deaf amid the broader economic downturn. In the case of the latter, Maureen Kelly, Tarte’s CEO, told Glossy in 2023, “We’ve never done traditional advertising, and instead we invest in building relationships and building up communities.”

Tarte sent out its Snatch Sticks PR packages in tandem with the product’s launch a week ago. Over the last few days, creators started publishing “unboxing” videos. Some are positive, with creators applying the product and complimenting its effects. “I’ve never been able to contour my nose this good!” creator Brandie Nicole (@brandienicole27) wrote in the caption of her TikTok review. Other videos, however, are less positive.

One is from the creator Maria Helen Rue (@thetopnotes), who did not name Tarte specifically, but held up a PR box that matched others seen on social media. She described how a brand had marked up a picture of hers from Instagram with a dotted line. Rue said that she had liked the photo of herself, adding, “I was trying really hard to be confident this day.” She then added that the PR box also included a “prescription” of procedures for her: upper bleph, rhinoplasty, jaw lift and Botox.

“Obviously, I need all these surgeries, but guess what? Oh, yay, I don’t need the surgeries. I just needed this brand’s products,” Rue said. Later, she became visibly emotional, saying, “As a woman today, it is so hard to have this tunnel vision forward of being like, ‘I know who I am. I know what I’m working on internally. I want to feel pretty for who I am, as I am, right now.’ … It feels like it’s a battle, every day.”

Anjali Bal, associate professor of marketing at Babson College, called the PR kits a “terrible long-term marketing plan.”

“Consumers are the people who prop up your brand,” she told Modern Retail. “Sending the PR kit is not showing love to your consumers. It’s being awful. Genuinely, I’m shocked by the campaign, because it is not only a misstep — it’s one that is amplified by the fact that they engaged with influencers directly and insulted them.”

As for the “glambulance,” which features imagery of a woman covered in bandages, Bal said, “I think it can be triggering to consumers. It also felt belittling of the seriousness of care.” A TikToker and beauty editor named LC (@laucapon) made a similar point. “I’ve been in the ambulance with my mom when she’s having chemotherapy,” she said. LC’s video included the caption, “Beauty brands are using rage bait.”

Andy Barr, a crisis communications and PR professional, described Tarte’s campaign as “less like a beauty launch and more like a masterclass in rage-bait marketing.” “It is very much the latest in faux-troversial marketing, and the internet is quickly seeing through it,” he said.

Tarte, for its part, told Modern Retail, “We stand behind the idea at the heart of this campaign: making contour fun, easy and approachable. At the same time, hearing that some people experienced the creative differently is useful feedback, and it’s something we’ll carry into how we communicate future campaigns.”

Tarte also shared that Snatch Stick sold 2.4x its first-week forecast. Forty-two percent of Snatch Stick purchasers were new to Tarte, and the company sold through 65% of its initial inventory in seven days. The launch has driven more than 5 million views across social-media content, per the brand.

Jill Manoff contributed reporting.