Help! I Want To Eat My Lipstick

When Doja Cat bit into what looked like a MAC lipstick on the VMA red carpet this September, the spectacle instantly went viral. The bullet turned out to be a chocolate replica by pastry artist Amaury Guichon, and the stunt doubled as the announcement of her new role as MAC’s global ambassador. In a single bite, MAC delivered a cultural moment engineered for memes, headlines, and endless shares.

It was audacious, ridiculous, and very Doja Cat. But it was also a reminder: this is not the first time beauty has relied on theatre to cut through the noise. The industry has entered its stunt era, where a product drop alone is no longer enough.

The anatomy of a great beauty stunt is surprisingly disciplined. It begins with celebrity alignment: the act must feel natural to the face performing it. It needs an element of surprise that provokes a double take, a visual spectacle that can be screenshotted in seconds, and cultural timing that places it directly in the path of the conversation. At its best, it carries risk because risk sharpens the reward. The trick is not shock for shock’s sake, but spectacle tethered to substance.

Case Studies

MAC / Doja Cat

 Doja’s edible lipstick worked because it was absurd but perfectly in character. It wasn’t just lipstick; it was lipstick as performance art, lipstick as chocolate, and lipstick as marketing. It reasserted MAC as a brand unafraid of theatre in an era when ambassador launches are often reduced to Instagram posts.

U Beauty + The White Lotus

 When U Beauty tapped Michelle Monaghan to front its Resurfacing Compound, it wasn’t the actress alone that mattered. It was the timing: Monaghan’s appearance coincided with her role in The White Lotus, a show that thrives on uncomfortable glamour and internet discourse. By linking the product with a cultural phenomenon, U Beauty generated attention that went beyond the usual beauty press.

Elemis + F1

Skincare and Formula One don’t naturally intersect, which is why Elemis naming Aston Martin driver Jessica Hawkins as an ambassador drew attention. It was unexpected, a collision of self-care and speed. The stunt wasn’t visual in the Doja Cat sense, but it disrupted category expectations, pulling Elemis into a completely new cultural arena.

Wella / OPI Wicked Collection

 When OPI partnered with Wicked to release a themed nail collection, it leaned heavily on theatricality. Nail polish became narrative, colours became characters, and the campaign played out like Broadway on fingertips. It wasn’t outrageous, but it was theatrical branding that translated seamlessly into selfies, fan posts, and content.

What’s Common / What Sets Them Apart

Each of these campaigns delivered surprise, but the form varied. MAC and OPI leaned on visuals. U Beauty and Elemis leaned on narrative and context. The Ordinary leaned on tone. What united them was alignment: each stunt made sense for the brand in question. Where they differed was in risk. MAC risked ridicule if the stunt had flopped, while Elemis risked alienating its core audience by venturing into motorsport. The lesson is that stunts can take many shapes, but they work best when brand, face, and timing converge.

What It Says About Beauty & Culture Now

In 2025, attention is the most precious commodity. Beauty cannot rely on quiet drops or standard ambassador campaigns to cut through. Audiences are overexposed to polish and crave the extraordinary. They respond when beauty merges with other cultural categories — food, theatre, sport, television — because the collision feels new. The stunt era reflects a deeper truth: beauty is not just about products any more, it is about moments.

Spectacle is intoxicating, but it is also dangerous. Without authenticity, it looks cheap. Without substance, it looks hollow. There are risks of backlash, of being accused of trying too hard, of crossing lines of taste or safety. Hygiene, sustainability, and ethics cannot be ignored because stunts that feel irresponsible quickly lose their allure. A stunt should feel like risk, not recklessness.

If beauty brands are going to keep pulling stunts, I’ll be here for the wildest ones — biting, cheering, sometimes judging. The lesson is clear: the product may still be the hero, but the show around it is what makes us look up. In the stunt era, the outrageous is not extra. It is essential.