A foreign skincare brand earned buzz for retaining actress Maris Racal as its celebrity endorser despite being involved in a controversy.
SNAILWHITE, a Thai beauty and skincare brand, gained traction after posting a photo of the actress on Instagram Stories with the text:
“To err is human, to forgive is divine, keep glowing.”
It was accompanied by emojis of sparkles, a snail and a heart exclamation.
The post was noticed by some Filipinos who lauded the brand for retaining the actress amid her controversial leaked messages with onscreen partner, Anthony Jennings, last week.
“Only something controversial could make a brand drop you. This is not it. Snail White knows this. Honestly, ‘yung issue naman niya is not worth the hate,” an online user commented.
“It’s frowned upon, yes, but not really something that deserves a boycott (unless you are already a Maris Racal hater),” the online user added.
“I am not a fan of Maris Racal and don’t use Snailwhite. But huge respect [for] the company for not joining the cancel culture bandwagon. I might as well buy their soap tomorrow,” vlogger Jeff Teves said.
“Hats off to Belo [and] Snail White! The kind of brands that I want to patronize. When I’m tempted to judge someone’s mistakes, I remind myself that I’m not perfect either. We all fall short, just in different ways,” the admin of the Facebook page “Travel with The Ludovoices” said.
“Remember that strength isn’t about how loud you scream. It’s about how smart you fight, and true justice is never about chaos, it’s about the long term results,” it added.
“Yes to brands that support rebuilding after a major life setback and not holding people to unrealistically perfect standards!” another online user commented.
Before Maris shared her side of the story on the controversy, beauty and cosmetics brand Dazzle Me dropped the actress — its first face — as its endorser, saying it advocates for “kindness and empathy within the online space.”
Meanwhile, other brands have allegedly modified their socials following the issue.
A Filipino claimed a hair product that Maris endorses has turned off its comments section on Instagram, while a local coffee brand has allegedly deleted posts featuring Maris and Anthony.
San Mig Coffee and Vitress, Maris Racal and Anthony Jennings endorsements, turned off their comment sections
byu/bush_party_tonight inChikaPH
The controversy
Maris and Anthony, monotonously known as “MaThon” became the talk of the town on December 3 and 4 after the actor’s ex-girlfriend, Jam Villanueva, leaked screenshots of their conversations that had flirty messages.
The leak happened days after Anthony confirmed his breakup with Jam and declared that he and Maris were just “friends” despite speculations.
The actress later admitted to breaking up with her five-year boyfriend, singer-songwriter Rico Blanco, after realizing that she was developing feelings for her co-star.
Maris also insisted that Anthony kept telling her he and Jam were no longer dating, hence her messages to him. Her glam team backed this up with their own testimonies.
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Maris apologized to Jam, the people who were hurt, and her supporters who were shocked at the messages.
Anthony also issued a brief apology to Maris and Jam, as well as those he hurt and those who became involved in the controversy.
The actors first worked together in the romance-drama series “Can’t Buy Me Love,” where they played the SnoRene (Snoop and Irene) tandem whose chemistry hooked Filipinos.
Their chemistry as a love team has since scored them various endorsement deals with different brands and new projects like “Incognito” and “And the Breadwinner Is.”