Ulta Beauty is attempting to makeup with fans after ugly backlash over its latest “tone-deaf” email promotion.
The cosmetics mega company sent out an email for a Kate Spade perfume on Sunday that unintentionally alluded to the designer’s suicide. Ulta’s message to customers read “Come hang with Kate Spade” alongside a sale for its beauty products.
Spade died by suicide when she hanged herself in 2018. She was 55.
The wonder behemoth apologized in a press release to The Post on Monday.
“Ulta Beauty recently sent an email featuring Kate Spade Latest York fragrance with an insensitive subject line and for this, we sincerely apologize,” the rep said. “Mental health is a really serious, necessary issue on this country, and never something we might ever take flippantly. We apologize to the Spade family, our Kate Spade Latest York brand partners and to our guests. Thanks for understanding as we attempt to do higher.”
Fans were appalled by the reference and expressed outrage on social media.
The dressmaker died by hanging in 2018.Getty Images
“How disgusting to make use of for clickbait,” wrote one, believing the message was written intentionally.
“I cannot imagine I got this email today,” one person wrote on Twitter. “Is that this some form of sick joke? How insensitive and absolutely tone-deaf. Apparently no person in marketing at Ulta remembers how Kate Spade died. Disgusting.”
One other chimed in, “Just got this email … that is incorrect of Ulta Beauty … Kate Spade committed suicide by hanging herself.”
“Ulta Beauty corporate probably having a MELTDOWN realizing any individual sent out a promo email with the topic line Come hang with Kate Spade … any individual’s losing their job,“ a user added.
”Ulta Beauty f—ked up with their Kate Spade email. Not only did I get a metric f—k ton of emails all night, however the headline was BULLS—T. Ulta gives no care to the mental health community, Kate Spade or her family. Gross,” a fan wrote.
Another person disapprovingly added, “Sharing that awful ulta beauty x kate spade email is truthfully worse than ulta sending it in my view because someone within the comments who would’ve never seen it otherwise literally said they were triggered by it. that person should’ve just emailed ulta.”
Spade suffered from anxiety and depression for several years before her death.Boston Globe via Getty Images
On the time of the style icon’s death, her family sent out a statement saying: “To a lot of the world, she was Kate Spade, the gorgeous embodiment of her brand and a glamorous cultural icon.”
Her husband and longtime business partner, Andy Spade, released his own statement, explaining that “there have been personal demons she was battling.”
“Kate suffered from depression and anxiety for a few years. She was actively searching for help and dealing closely together with her doctors to treat her disease, one which takes far too many lives,” he wrote in 2018.
For those who are fighting suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in Latest York City, you possibly can call 1-888-NYC-WELL without spending a dime and confidential crisis counseling. For those who live outside the five boroughs, you possibly can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
