The ‘Sephora kids’ era raises concerns about online content

With long brown hair and freckles on her nose, the influencer looks into the camera and drags gloss in different shades across her lips, giving her feedback.

“Thanks you guys for watching,” she says, adding thanks to the brand supplying the goods as she finishes the Instagram video with a smile, clutching three luminous lipgloss tubes to her chest.

So far, typical fare in the world of influencers. Except the influencer says she is nine, one of a number of children — who are too young to need skincare or even to be allowed to use Instagram — promoting make-up products online.

They are part of the so-called Sephora kid phenomenon, so named after the fast-growing beauty retailer owned by French luxury group LVMH and popular among young people. The company has not endorsed this trend.

The Sephora kids are not just on social media; they’re in the mall, scouring shelves for trendy make-up or luxury skincare that they have saved up their pocket money to afford. Generation Alpha — those born since 2010 — will have the greatest spending power in history, according to Mark McCrindle, who coined the term. By the end of this year, more than $5.39tn globally will be spent on them annually, and McCrindle forecasts this will increase by $10bn each year.

The latest in a regular survey of teens by investment bank Piper Sandler said that “beauty remains a heightened priority” for them, with spending at its highest level since 2018.

Generation Alpha are the first to truly grow up with social media at their fingertips. They copy older influencers online by showing off their “hauls” of items purchased or given to them, posting “shelfies” (selfies of your beauty collection) or GRWM (get ready with me) videos, sometimes in school uniforms.

“The root cause of this opportunity with this younger consumer cohort is the almost universal embrace of social media,” said Bernstein analyst Luca Solca.

The algorithms of social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram promote the videos of young influencers despite having a minimum age of 13. (TikTok removed a number of the videos the Financial Times flagged as examples of underage users who are fans of this trend.) And the fact that some children are being sent free products is a sign of encouragement from brands who want to attract a new demographic.

But the online promotion of some brands to children is drawing increasing scrutiny. Apart from social concerns, dermatologists told the FT that some videos feature products with ingredients such as retinol, a form of vitamin A, that could potentially damage young skin.

Promoting products through children is legally hazy. The UK’s Online Safety Act, coming into force in stages, is designed to protect children on the internet. However, it does not cover this kind of promotional material unless it is “harmful to children”. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority says it is aware of “brands potentially advertising skincare products to children” and is monitoring the situation.

Although there isn’t a specific rule that says skincare products can’t be marketed towards children, “ads shouldn’t exploit people’s fears or concerns about their body [and] there could also be a problem if a product being targeted at young people contains ingredients that are very harmful to their skin”, the agency said in a statement.

In the US, marketing to children is permitted, although there are restrictions on tracking these users online to serve targeted advertising. Some states have age-related bans on social media: Utah requires under-18s to have explicit parental permission to use social networks, while Florida lawmakers are proposing banning under-14s entirely and mandating parental permission for 14 and 15-year-olds.

Some tween influencers defend themselves on social media. One describes herself as “close to 10” and has an account filled with GRWM videos. In a video where she brushes her hair and dabs blusher on her cheeks and nose, she says: “When I go to Sephora, I use my own money or gift cards . . . A little blush and mascara never hurt anybody. I used to have an excessive skincare routine, but I switched because it wasn’t good for my skin.”

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