keep cool brand controversy

i kinda get where keep cool is coming from. it started from a reddit post where someone used a sunscreen calculator and got spf 4 for the sunscreen. the user said that the spf result is not accurate as the formulation and other ingredients may boost the spf. many people saw the number and just ran with it, spreading misinformation and stating it as a fact. however, i feel that keep cool could have been nicer in the way they approached the situation. in korea, defamation laws are really strict so i get it. ill still buy from keep cool but i wont be trying their sunscreen just yet. and yes ethics is super important to me. i will never buy from dhc no matter how good the products are. i dont wanna contribute money to support the ceo's overt racism and xenophobia and his related programmes.

Is the brand ethics important to me? Yes, but i pick and choose my battles. I think everyone has something they don’t support and brands that are in the gray moral area that they don’t buy from. Personally, i don’t buy products with mica (unless it’s ethically sourced). I also don’t buy from Mario Badescou because of the whole steroid issue which was borderline criminal. Same with brands with problematic (homophobic, xenophobic, racist, transphobic, misogynistic) owners or agendas. As far as other scandals go, if i really want the products, i can usually look past them - yes, drunk elephant isn’t the nicest brand and naturium’s launch was a mess, but it wasn’t so bad that if i bought from them i wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. As for the Keep Cool issue - whoever works on their PR team should get fired because the whole issue is such an unnecessary mess. Especially since Mad about skin mentioned that the message about the lawsuit came from the PR team, not the legal team, which is absolutely bizzare. So obviously sending them to the influencers was a big mistake from the PR standpoint. However, i don’t know whether Keep Cool’s potential lawsuit was baseless as i have not seen the video of the girl he mentions and if she said that their sunscreen wasn’t enough protection, then it would be a defamation without any facts supporting it, and therefore keep cool was withing their rights to send a message that spreading such information might end in a lawsuit. So i think it’s really a matter of every case is different as i’m sure some influencers didn’t accuse keep cool’s spf of not being what it’s advertised to be, but some others did and keep cool decided to take actions - not the best ones, but it’s understandable they would want to protect the company image (which they ruined in the process, so i really think they should change the PR team like yesterday). As for targeting “smaller” influencers, i believe they simply sent this email to all influencers that were involved with rumors about their sunscreen and the bigger ones weren’t targeted since they have their own PR people and/or enough experience to know which issues to avoid to not get themselves into such a situation. I think we often forget that everything has consequences and like Mad about skin said, sending an email might have made some people resign from their dreams, but on the other hand if you say something on the internet it is not as anonymous or in the ether as we like to think and you can always be held accountable for it. So once again it should be considered on the case to case basis, which in the case Mad about skin mentioned is impossible since the platform was deleted. Also, we often portray the brands as these huge entities with billions of dollars, but it’s often not the case. Keep cool is nowhere near a concern like Loreal and speeading misinformation might have severly impacted their workers. So while i don’t think they should have handled the issue as they did, i also don’t think that calling it “bulling” resolves anything as this is not exactly what happened in this situation. I hope keep cool will take the opportunity to rethink their strategies about dealing with a crisis situations, but also the community will learn to wait for some facts before there are any information/accusations spread about a product or a brand because questioning the spf value without any proof is also not a way to go. Also, i am just tired with the situation.

The spread of misinformation led them to their comments. Though I believe their approach was way too head on, I do see their point, just don’t support the method. When it comes to scandals, I honestly can look past them if the products are worth it - naturium for example, their products are amazing and I overlook the scandal and mess of when they first released their line and founders. I would still purchase from keep cool - I think what matters to me more is the lines production (fairness of workers), their morals and ethics and where they stand on important situations going on across the world. As a brand, I would love to see them show their support and spead a positive message rather than sitting back

this is such misinformation ! youtubers and influencers were spreading the rumor that the keep cool sunscreen only has spf 4.4 ! there was no scientific research or data about this and youtubers/ influencers who dont have any scientific education simply dont have the competence to question a products claim and in this case the spf rating ! also they didnt threaten anyone , they simply stated that they will take legal action against defamation or misspreading of fake news without any scientific data ! also it doesnt matter if the youtbers are small or big , law treats everyone the same ! i think they are totally in the right to consider legal action if some youtubers spread rumors and dmg the brands reputation wihtout any scientific basis

Gosh did I miss something?! This is hot tea right here🤯