Woke Up Like This has now removed the Dream Like Anne blush from its collection and issued an apology. Wult / AP
Woke Up Like This has now removed the Dream Like Anne blush from its collection and issued an apology. Wult / AP
Woke Up Like This has now removed the Dream Like Anne blush from its collection and issued an apology. Wult / AP
Woke Up Like This has now removed the Dream Like Anne blush from its collection and issued an apology. Wult / AP

Lifestyle

Backlash after Hong Kong make-up brand names blusher after Anne Frank

Woke Up Like This has since removed the product and issued an apology

The National

September 21, 2020

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A Hong Kong make-up brand has been criticised after naming one of its products after Anne Frank.

Woke Up Like This launched a new collection that aimed to celebrate female empowerment, including a liquid blusher that it labelled Dream Like Anne.

Woke Up Like This launched the Dream Like Anne blush as part of its new collection. Courtesy Woke Up Like This
Woke Up Like This launched the Dream Like Anne blush as part of its new collection. Courtesy Woke Up Like This

Among other products in the collection were blushers Woolf's Words, named after writer Virginia Woolf; Lift Like Melinda, a dedication to philanthropist Melinda Gates; and Viva La Frida to honour Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Each product, Woke Up Like This says, was named after "inspiring, famous women" in the hope of moving the brand's customers to "live their dreams and break through gender barriers".

However, the company has received backlash for the product named after Frank, with Jewish author Ben Freeman tweeting his disgust.

"Naming a shade of blush after Anne Frank, who was a victim of genocide is revolting," he wrote. "Dead Jews are not a marketing opportunity."

"I am just staggered that at no point in the creative process did anyone on the Woke Up Like This team, or any of the other hundreds of people involved say 'ummm guys, this might not be appropriate'," fellow author Claire Coleman wrote.

Another commenter on Twitter pointed to the product description for the blush, which referred to Frank as a "Holocaust diarist".

"So many things wrong with this. Like she was doing it for a job during that time?"

The brand has since removed the product from its collection and issued an apology. "We are extremely sorry that paying tribute to her [Frank] in this way appears to have caused offence and is considered disrespectful," it said in a statement issued to the UK's Metro newspaper.

"Our intention was quite the reverse, to bring positive energy and shine a little light through unprecedented testing times during the global pandemic.

"We sincerely apologise for any miscommunication and Dream Like Anne is therefore officially withdrawn from our online store with immediate effect."

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Essentials

The flights

Emirates and Etihad fly direct from the UAE to Geneva from Dh2,845 return, including taxes. The flight takes 6 hours. 

The package

Clinique La Prairie offers a variety of programmes. A six-night Master Detox costs from 14,900 Swiss francs (Dh57,655), including all food, accommodation and a set schedule of medical consultations and spa treatments.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

England World Cup squad

Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

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Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

Five ways to get fit like Craig David (we tried for seven but ran out of time)

Start the week as you mean to go on. So get your training on strong on a Monday.

Train hard, but don’t take it all so seriously that it gets to the point where you’re not having fun and enjoying your friends and your family and going out for nice meals and doing that stuff.

Think about what you’re training or eating a certain way for — don’t, for example, get a six-pack to impress somebody else or lose weight to conform to society’s norms. It’s all nonsense.

Get your priorities right.

And last but not least, you should always, always chill on Sundays.

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