The pop-up that popped in and quickly popped out: Off Rhode trade mark

INFLUENCER beauty gurus of South Africa were abuzz this past weekend with the announcement of a Rhode pop-up store at the Mall of Africa. TikTokers wasted no time in running to secure the bag and soon feeds on all social media platforms were filled with hauls and unboxings and reviews of what was deemed to be the all the rage in the beauty industry.

- KIM RAMPERSADH and NONTANDO TUSI

The excitement was, however, short-lived when internet sleuths began to question the authenticity of the goods and the “Come with me to shop the new Rhode store” videos quickly turned into “Come with me to get scammed” videos.

The flaw was in the foundation. What the business behind the pop-up, an alleged reseller of the goods, had not anticipated was that several influencers were already in possession of genuine best-loved Rhode goods, which they had purchased on their travels overseas.

These influencers did not shy away from reviewing the products side-by-side for their audiences and very soon, the potholes in the Rhode pop-up surfaced. Questions regarding available stock of limited edition drops, pricing discrepancies, and imperfect packaging quickly came to the fore.

Eyebrows rose even higher when TikTokers started posting screenshots of responses seemingly received by them from Rhode Skin, confirming that their only affiliated sales channels were the official rhodeskin.com website and their verified Instagram Shop and TikTok Shop.