Eau de Controversy – Just Some Thoughts on Jackie Aina’s “Soro Soke” Candle Debacle
The Tea
Youtuber, beauty guru, and owner of the lifestyle brand Forvr Mood is facing backlash for naming one of her company’s latest candles “Soro Soke” — a move many are calling this an insensitive, opportunistic due to the Yoruba phrase’s association with the End SARS movement. For those unfamiliar with the phrase and its significance, the tweet below sums it up better than I can.
As the above tweet states, not only did Aina seek to capitalize on a politicized term in order to sell candles, but her failure to use her platform to speak up on the issue back in 2020 has left a bad taste in the mouths of more than a few people who are calling out her willingness to capitalize on her Nigerian heritage when it is convenient for her without actually engaging with Nigerian issues in a meaningful way.
Others made a point to call out how Aina blocked and ignored those who asked her to use her platform to shed light on End SARS, only to acknowledge it in an extremely bizarre Instagram post after her (probably former) fans wouldn’t drop the issue.
So that’s why people are justifiably angry and why Jackie Aina is currently trending on Twitter.
Now for my thoughts…
I used to be a fan of Jackie, and I still adore the eyeshadow palette she created with Anastasia Beverly Hills. As a fellow Black woman who adores makeup and beauty, I enjoyed her YouTube videos and loved seeing a darker skinned Black woman achieve success and acclaim in a space that was traditionally dominated by white and light skinned people. I remember feeling both sympathetic and empathetic towards her when she opened up about leaving Twitter back in 2019 due to the disproportionate amount of bullying and harassment she and so many other Black influencers often receive.
While I still appreciate her beauty videos and would never take away from her skills or success, I began to notice a pattern of hypocrisy, avoiding accountability, and just generally off-putting behaviors that made it harder for me to support her and her content. Obviously, she’s fine without me and my support, but it’s worth noting that I’m not alone in noticing this.
At some point, you just have to cut your losses and stop extending grace to people who have shown they don’t really deserve it. This isn’t the first time Aina has engaged questionable and opportunistic behaviors, and I’m not particularly fond of the whole “I’m rich and therefore untouchable” persona she’s adopted in the last few years, so this latest controversy is not really shocking or surprising. While I do think she’s received a lot of unfair criticism in the past, there’s really no excuse for this.
Notably, both Sephora (which stocks Forvr Mood) and the official Forvr Mood website have removed the “Soro Soke” candle from their websites. Additionally, after hours of radio silence on Twitter, an apology has been posted to the Forvr Mood Twitter account.
It’s just a little hard to believe that nobody bothered to do any research on the issue before allowing this completely avoidable PR debacle to take place — even more so when you consider the fact that Aina was more or less forced into being aware of the phrase and its association with the End SARS movement back in 2020, coupled with the fact that Aina herself is Nigerian American.
My personal theory after having been a fan of Aina and observing the way she and her associates handle any sort of criticism or pushback online, whether it’s reasonable or not, is that Aina simply assumed her Nigerian roots would be enough for her to avoid criticism for daring to turn a phrase associated with a meaningful social movement into a candle hawking gimmick, and she likely didn’t have anyone on her team who was willing to tell her on no uncertain terms that it was a bad idea. Obviously, I could be wrong, and I will own that if I am, but given her love of blocking any and everyone who has legitimate concerns with her mixed messages about “doing your research” when they don’t align with her own actions, it just seems like the most likely scenario.
Additionally, I personally do not trust people who make it a point to sell people a “lifestyle,” but that’s another story for another time. The bottom line is that everything shouldn’t be commodified, and so the whole candle controversy is ultimately the result of capitalist, opportunistic clownery. I’m not Nigerian, so I won’t speak on the accusations of Aina leveraging her ties to the culture in order to make a buck, but I will say that I’m inclined to side with the people whose culture and struggles are being harvested and exploited for aesthetics and dollar signs.
At the absolute least, Aina could pledge to support Nigerian causes in a meaningful way (you know, like with money and resources) rather than posting a notes app apology and hoping it all blows over.
~DeLa Doll
PS – If you found this post helpful, informative, or entertaining, feel free to sub to me on Patreon so I can keep writing and making things to inspire and inform because this whole “starving artist” thing isn’t cute.
DeLa Doll is a culture writer, cosplayer, and artist based in Florida. She has been writing professionally since 2016, with some of her work being featured on sites like HuffPo and /Film. She is an advocate for meaningful diversity and representation in media, a gamer, a mom, and an avid user of DIY hair dye.
