Written By Andrew DiBiasio

The phrase “I want to be an influencer” is something we’ve all heard before, whether it’s from our friends, families, or even ourselves — but there’s one problem. We’re hearing it too much.

The TikTok influencer scene is reaching peak oversaturation, with users racing to turn that first viral video into a dream career. Over half of TikTok is now filled with aspiring lifestyle creators looking to escape the 9-to-5 grind. Just take a scroll through your feed, and you’ll spot business emails tucked into the bios of nearly every user with over 10,000 followers—because, for many, it’s not just a hobby; it’s a hustle.

With such a vast market at their fingertips, companies are on a relentless quest to stand out from the crowd, moving beyond the tired old routines of traditional PR package "unboxings" and "hauls." They’re searching high and low for fresh ways to create a memorable product outreach experience that captivates and engages their audience.

Beauty superbrand Tarte jumped into this bustling market by launching a flurry of gift box campaigns to maximize their reach and diversify their brand presence. The caveat? Tarte left everyone in the dark about whether these various PR boxes were part of a single, cohesive campaign or a series of separate initiatives. As you can imagine, this lack of clarity stirred up a whirlpool of confusion in the TikTok beauty community.

After about 100 Tarte packages containing $700 Hermès bracelets were sent to a group of influencers to celebrate the company’s upcoming holiday launch of its famous “Shape Tape” concealer (Follett, 2024), Tarte’s reputation was shining bright, gliding into golden, polished territory—until miscommunication swooped in like a harsh polish remover, dulling that gleam.

Meanwhile, other packages from the same boxes were landing on different influencers’ doorsteps, revealing just a couple of earrings and necklaces valued at a mere $10 to $30 (Follett, 2024). Naturally, influencers started questioning the uneven distribution: why were some getting curated designer goodies while others were stuck with budget jewelry? If this was all part of the same campaign, what was driving the disparity? And if it was a separate initiative, why was this one deemed less worthy of high-end drip?

Turns out, this was actually a completely separate campaign focused on promoting Tarte’s partnership with Argentine singer and beauty mogul Angelica Torres. It took a whirlwind of controversy to whip around TikTok before the clarification finally emerged. Funny how quickly word travels, isn’t it?

Since the dissension spread on online platforms, a spokesperson at Tarte Cosmetics told PEOPLE Magazine that they consider the issue at hand a “misunderstanding.” Instead of formally apologizing for the disarray, Tarte turned to diversity critics and clarified that “for the Hermès bracelet mailer, 33% of the creators [who received the bracelet] were Black and 50% were BIPOC,” but left out the demographic breakdown of the Angelica Torres distribution.

This creator conundrum began to beg several questions: Is all publicity good publicity? What is the line between controversy and notoriety? Is it worth generating word about your brand at the expense of your valued influencers’ confusion? Or perhaps the most important: Was this simply a genuine strategic move, or just a poorly telegraphed mistake?

While Tarte insists it employs a holistic approach—factoring in engagement, brand loyalty, and content type—to ensure a fair and balanced distribution of its gift campaigns, marketing experts have their doubts. They argue that segmenting influencers based solely on quantifiable metrics like follower count can inadvertently reduce an influencer’s worth to mere numbers, ultimately pushing them away from building genuine connections with the brand.

Instead, marketing experts and chief officers are offering a more personalized alternative: The relationship roadmap (Follett, 2024). This rewards influencers with more individualized packages the more they interact with and communicate interest in the company.

Believe it or not, this novel system gave birth to lifestyle mogul Emma Chamberlain’s “Chamberlain Coffee.” This partnership came after Chamberlain posted heaps of content featuring gifted products made by beverage corporation Swoon. Love Island USA’s sixth season was all the rage this past summer, but so was a sponsorship with Cheez-Its for contestant Kordell Beckham, who continuously expressed interest both on and off the show in collaborating with his favorite snack. Needless to say, that interest paid off with the “Kordeezy Cheezy Couple” sponsorship.

Now, companies could recruit you — yes you reading this — to be the next face of an up-and-coming enterprise. More and more corporations are now operating under a mutualistic “getting out what you put in” system. The more prospective creators spread the word about a brand, the more visible their content will be to the brand. When it comes time for brands to recruit these smaller creators, their campaigns become more humanized, unique, and appealing to the “common consumer.”

This new model would completely flip the traditional model of advertising on its head. The days of putting famous athletes on Wheaties boxes and sending beauty kits to famous supermodels are gone.

Long story short, it’s perfectly fine to launch multiple gifting campaigns at once, but the social media realm craves more transparency. Ignoring misunderstandings should never be a marketing tactic—seriously, that’s a recipe for disaster. If discrepancies pop up, the bare minimum is to address them so your “valued” ambassadors don’t feel like the last kids picked for dodgeball. Because if brands leave their “chosen ones” in the dark, all those influencers have to work with is confusion—and let’s be real, that won’t lead to any meaningful buzz about the products.

The oozing of advertising and marketing ambiguity has left a tart — or should I say Tarte — taste in many mouths. Brands should prioritize creativity and cultivate authentic relationships with passionate micro-influencers instead of artificial, on-the-spot gift drops with zero context on large creators.

In the end, there’s no reason for a crisis to set you back $70,000 when you’ve got the priceless rewards of clarity and inclusivity waiting on the other side—because clear communication is worth its own weight in gold.

Roadmap to Disaster: How Tarte’s Outreach Created An Influencer Traffic Jam