I think this is interesting, but sometimes when you're looking for new products it's hard to know if something isn't a dupe if you're not devoted to being online/following beauty industry news. any tips on how to figure out if something is a dupe or the original?
I work in food brand management, so my thought-process is likely skewed - would I consider private label to be dupes? Maybe, yet extremely common and normalized. But for many consumers, this lower price (often sacrificing for quality) is what they need to fit their lifestyle. And we accept that as normal.
What do you think the difference is here? Trying to expand my thought process!
Thank you for covering the Bouncecurl/Conair brush travesty. I have been using Bouncecurl products for years and their amazing brush since released a couple years ago. I hate this for them and really hope to see them win this lawsuit.
It’s such a loaded topic, but I’m with you 100%. I actually wrote about this on my own Substack recently, and MCoBeauty is an interesting one because technically the founder duped her own business. She had a brand called ModelCo that was originally a premium brand with a legacy in innovation – Tan in a Can, a heated eyelash wand – but when Shelley Sullivan started losing ground to indie brands, she went for the mass market by duping her own best-selling products (and everyone else’s) under MCoBeauty, and calling it democratisation. I have always found this to be disingenuous, particularly when I discovered that the two brands are selling a few products that are the EXACT same formula for different price points - the only difference? One is ModelCo and one is MCoBeauty, but ModelCo is $6 more. If the company was truly doing it “for the people”, why would they be ripping off their own customers? 🤔
Yes, 100% agree, and it also means people are chasing the same culture, the same bourgeoisie culture, instead of forming their own subcultures or forming their own style. It’s adding to the copy paste of absolutely everything.
Is blandification a word? I feel like it should be! Great essay, thank you. I'm so happy to see you on Substack. As a Taurus, I'm not a fan of dupe culture at all. I find it so gross. - Christy
Seeing dupes encourages copying at all levels of society. If it’s ok for brands to do it then it’s ok for everyone. When did this become ok? Crazy times.
WOW those MCO dupes are so blatant and she's basically saying "be proud of your choice to buy a counterfeit product," There's nothing wrong with a dupe that exists in the same space as high end product and offers a similar formula or colorway, but these are not dupes in my opinion they are knockoffs.
I think this is interesting, but sometimes when you're looking for new products it's hard to know if something isn't a dupe if you're not devoted to being online/following beauty industry news. any tips on how to figure out if something is a dupe or the original?
Honestly, I feel like we could internet search "is _______ a dupe?" and a related Reddit post would pop up in the search results!
I work in food brand management, so my thought-process is likely skewed - would I consider private label to be dupes? Maybe, yet extremely common and normalized. But for many consumers, this lower price (often sacrificing for quality) is what they need to fit their lifestyle. And we accept that as normal.
What do you think the difference is here? Trying to expand my thought process!
Thank you for covering the Bouncecurl/Conair brush travesty. I have been using Bouncecurl products for years and their amazing brush since released a couple years ago. I hate this for them and really hope to see them win this lawsuit.
It’s such a loaded topic, but I’m with you 100%. I actually wrote about this on my own Substack recently, and MCoBeauty is an interesting one because technically the founder duped her own business. She had a brand called ModelCo that was originally a premium brand with a legacy in innovation – Tan in a Can, a heated eyelash wand – but when Shelley Sullivan started losing ground to indie brands, she went for the mass market by duping her own best-selling products (and everyone else’s) under MCoBeauty, and calling it democratisation. I have always found this to be disingenuous, particularly when I discovered that the two brands are selling a few products that are the EXACT same formula for different price points - the only difference? One is ModelCo and one is MCoBeauty, but ModelCo is $6 more. If the company was truly doing it “for the people”, why would they be ripping off their own customers? 🤔
Yes, 100% agree, and it also means people are chasing the same culture, the same bourgeoisie culture, instead of forming their own subcultures or forming their own style. It’s adding to the copy paste of absolutely everything.
Is blandification a word? I feel like it should be! Great essay, thank you. I'm so happy to see you on Substack. As a Taurus, I'm not a fan of dupe culture at all. I find it so gross. - Christy
👏👏👏 Thank you for saying all the things we NEED to hear. 🥰
Seeing dupes encourages copying at all levels of society. If it’s ok for brands to do it then it’s ok for everyone. When did this become ok? Crazy times.
WOW those MCO dupes are so blatant and she's basically saying "be proud of your choice to buy a counterfeit product," There's nothing wrong with a dupe that exists in the same space as high end product and offers a similar formula or colorway, but these are not dupes in my opinion they are knockoffs.