Susan Yara: Inside Naturium skin care scandal

Susan Yara has been heavily slammed after revealing the truth about a product she had been promoting to her 2 million followers.

With almost two million followers across Instagram and YouTube, Susan Yara is one of the biggest names in the beauty world.

The US influencer was famous for sharing unbiased reviews on skincare products and routines, as well as her family life.

But now Ms Yara is facing backlash from fans after it was revealed a brand she had touted for months was actually secretly owned by her.

Since April, Ms Yara has mentioned a new brand Naturium in her videos and social media posts, praising its products and ingredients.

YouTuber Susan Yara was famous for her unbiased skincare advice.

Screenshots of a post by Ms Yara on her Facebook page in April show her comparing Naturium to cult skincare brand The Ordinary, saying its products have “higher quality ingredients and feel nicer on the skin”.

In screenshots posted by YouTuber Kenna, Ms Yara tells a fan she found out about the brand from a “PR mailer” and offered followers a discount code to use if they wanted to buy any of the products.

Ms Yara shared this post to Facebook in April, claiming the products were better than The Ordinary.

In a Facebook comment Ms Yara claimed she had been sent the products by a PR person

But in a YouTube video last week Ms Yara announced that Naturium was “my skincare brand”, sharing reactions from other influencers to the news that she owned the brand.

In the clip, Ms Yara said that she didn’t disclose the fact that she owned Naturium before because she “didn’t want it to be an influencer brand” and wanted to get “honest and true feedback from everyone”.

In a video last week Ms Yara revealed Naturium was ‘my skincare brand’.

In a statement on her Facebook page Ms Yara said that the brand had launched in February and she had “planned on announcing in March, but took a step back as the pandemic unfolded and the movements to address racial injustice deserved the spotlight”.

Ms Yara said she was sorry for not revealing her involvement earlier but the “timing didn’t feel right”.

But fans weren’t happy with her reasoning for the nondisclosure, slamming Ms Yara for misleading them.

Several pointed out that Ms Yara could be found in breach of US law, as the country’s Federal Trade Commission stipulates that influencers must disclose any relationship they have with a brand.

RELATED: ‘Sold out’: Star’s cause chaos over new item

Yea the approach would have been fine had she not promoted it, lied about how she found out about it (she could have simply not answered) AND THEN provided a code like 😂😂. That’s SILLY!!

— Mrs. 🔔 (@BrittanyRBell) June 23, 2020

It honestly just really sucks cus what’s the point of relying on influencer to be honest about brands they support and love when they are just gonna turn around and be just as shady as those big corporations. Her Image is forever tainted and I’m sooo sick of people like her

— 🐭 (@proudofsabby) June 24, 2020

I’ve lost so much respect for Susan Yara both as a skincare addict and as somebody who works in marketing. I know she’s trying to be clever getting unbiased feedback but there’s rules and regulations we all have to follow and this just seems a bit underhanded...

— Arrest The Cops Who Murdered Breonna Taylor (@BecauseImBilly) June 22, 2020

As someone who loved Susan Yara, I'm extremely disappointed that she has been misleading her viewers into believing that her skincare line, @NaturiumSkin, does not belong to her. This is against FTC guidelines. YOU MUST DISCLOSE AFFILIATION for a reason! https://t.co/6rNDxAQqPC

— Jen Luv (@JenLuvsReviews) June 24, 2020

Why people are outraged by Susan Yara...

- Lied about her brand for months claiming it was a PR package
- Trashed The Ordinary to promote her brand
- Gained free market research by abusing the trust on her platform (YouTube and her Skincare Facebook group)
- We were misled

— Sophie (@trafotoz) June 23, 2020

RELATED: Jessika Power defends ‘big’ lips in glam photo

Ms Yara has now issued an apology video and claimed she wasn’t a ‘formal founder’ until a few weeks ago.

In response to the backlash Ms Yara released a tearful nine-minute video in which she apologised profusely to fans over Naturium.

Ms Yara said that she hadn’t been a “formal founder” of Naturium until a few weeks ago.

“The first thing I want to say is that I am very, very sorry for any disappointment, for any upset that you might be feeling, for any distrust that you might have for me right now,” she said.

“This was never my intention when I put my announcement video up over the weekend.”

Ms Yara said that it was only when she saw others “put it all together” and show her promotion of Naturium over the last few months that she realised “how bad” it looked.

“I think that your disappointment is justified and I realise that I have made some pretty bad mistakes,” she said.