Beauty Dupes: How Consumers Objectively Feel
What 1,000 Reddit comments tell us about the debate surrounding copy-cat beauty brands
Beauty dupes have been popular for over 20 years at this point. However, the recent growth of brands like Mco Beauty and ELF (one of the fastest-growing beauty brands in the world) has brought new attention to the 'luxe for less' trend with their increasingly obvious product imitations.
This shift has sparked mixed feelings among consumers, leading to discussions about the ethics of copying and how far brands should be allowed to go in their pursuit of affordability.
I wanted to gain an objective understanding of how consumers truly feel about dupes. To achieve this, I conducted a sentiment analysis of thousands of Reddit comments discussing beauty dupes to analyse the overall perception. In today’s newsletter, we’ll explore the general sentiment toward dupes and dive deeper into some of the most popular ones from Mco Beauty and ELF to see how they stack up against their luxury counterparts.