This week, I checked in on the backlash to Naturium founder Susan Yara’s recent beachside photos. Additionally, Gap relaunches its ‘90s fragrance hits as part of its return to beauty, and Birchbox founder Katie Beauchamp brings the skinification trend to nails.
On Tuesday, Susan Yara, founder of body-care brand Naturium, posted a series of photos on Instagram showing herself posing at an unspecified beach. The snaps included a shot of Naturium’s Phyto-Glow lip balm and a photo of Yara alongside model Stav Netanel Nagar. But many social media users instead took note of the background: Though Yara did not tag her location, some are claiming the photos appear to have been taken outside the beachfront Hilton property in Tel Aviv.
The post has acquired more than 2,000 comments, with many users expressing disappointment at seeing Yara allegedly choosing to travel to Israel during the country’s ongoing war on Gaza. That attitude has carried over to Naturium’s official Instagram page, where users have left comments on recent posts criticizing Yara’s actions. In response, some content creators are calling for a boycott of Naturium products.
“I have spent SO much money on Naturium over the last several years including turning my friends onto it. You just lost an extremely loyal follower and I will be spreading the word on this,” Instagram user Natalie Broderick commented on Yara’s post. Other commenters compared the post to “The Zone of Interest,” the 2023 film that depicts a Nazi officer and his family setting up their home outside the Auschwitz concentration camp.
