Ulta Beauty is in hot water because of an ad for their Kate Spade New York fragrance which has a subject line that reads very poorly. Sent out on Sunday, May 1, 2022, the subject line read “Come hang with Kate Spade,” the fragrance’s namesake took her own life by hanging almost four years ago on Friday, June 5, 2018.
The email was meant to hype the brand during the beauty retailer’s Ulta After Dark “Beauty Break” online promotion.
Ulta Beauty Apologizes for Insensitive Email Referencing Kate Spade’s Death
As expected, people took to social media to share the tone-deaf email subject line and ask for accountability. Given that the 55-year-old fashion designer and brand founder has died four years ago, it would be hard to believe that someone didn’t know this was an insensitive way to promote the fragrance.
However, it definitely isn’t intentional. I mean, that would just be petty and dark to advertise the founder’s brand with a reference to how they passed. If anything, this was just a sloppy email that wasn’t checked before it was sent out.
Regardless of intent or lack of reference, some customers and former employees view this as too tacky to let slide and are even calling for a boycott of Ulta Beauty. It has also been mentioned that the email was sent out unchecked during Mental Health Awareness Month.
I cannot believe I got this email today. Is this some kind of sick joke? How insensitive and absolutely tone deaf. Apparently nobody in marketing at Ulta remembers how Kate Spade died. Disgusting. @ultabeauty #suicideawareness #stopthestigma #katespade pic.twitter.com/L7jsqQcoWc
— Tracy Vinton (@tracy_vinton) May 2, 2022
The beauty store chain has addressed the flub in a statement to TMZ:
“Ulta Beauty recently sent an email featuring Kate Spade New York fragrance with an insensitive subject line and for this, we sincerely apologize. Mental health is a very serious, important issue in this country, and not something we would ever take lightly. We apologize to the Spade family, our Kate Spade New York brand partners and to our guests. Thank you for understanding as we strive to do better.”
If you or someone you know is having thoughts about suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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