Popular skincare brand faces controversy over its latest commercial

On the biggest night of football in America, skincare brand Cetaphil debuted its latest commercial “Game Time Glow” which depicts a father and daughter bonding over football. As the ad has generated much praise over its sentimental theme, it has also drawn criticism after a TikTok creator claimed that the brand copied her TikTok content that she posted months ago.

Cetaphil’s “Game Time Glow” shows a teenage girl initially ignoring her father’s attempts to bond over football until one day she overhears that “the most famous fan of the game” (speculated to be Taylor Swift) is making an appearance at what appears to be a Kansas City Chiefs game.

Later on, while the girl is doing her skincare routine, her father is seen entering her bedroom and inviting her to the living room to watch football. He then hands her a jersey, and even playfully puts a skincare product on his face before he exits her room. The girl then gives in, and both are seen bonding over a football game.

While the commercial has generated good feedback from viewers, with some even claiming that it made them teary-eyed, TikTok influencer Sharon Mbabazi has called out the brand for copying a series of TikToks that she made with her stepfather in September last year.

In a Feb. 10 TikTok video titled “When Cetaphil’s Super Bowl commercial copies your tiktoks,” which has gained over 3.5 million views within two days, Mbabazi and her stepfather are seen in the video pointing to a phone screen that shows a screenshot from Cetaphil’s commercial. Also, in the video, the soundbite “wait, is this f---ing play about us?” is playing in the background.

A look at Mbabazi’s TikTok page shows two pinned videos from September where the content involves her stepfather entering her room to update her about a Chiefs football game and Taylor Swift news while she is doing her makeup and skincare.

In a follow-up TikTok, Mbabazi’s stepfather claimed that Cetaphil took his daughter’s content “bar for bar.”

@sharavinaaa

Replying to @user7270110434048 @Cetaphil US #superbowlcommercial #cetaphilsuperbowlcommercial #swifttok #swifties #fyp #trending ♬ original sound - Sharon Mbabazi

“Here's the deal Cetaphil. That is a beautiful story that you have in your commercial that's gonna be on the Super Bowl, but it's our story, beautiful content,” he said. “My daughter made the content that you stole.”

Many users commented under the video siding with Mbabazi and her stepfather, and called on Cetaphil to fix the situation.

“@Cetaphil US you have to make this right,” wrote one user.

“Wow!!! This isn’t right. They should have asked you to do the commercial!!” wrote another user.

Users even started commenting under Cetaphil’s TikTok video where they posted the commercial calling out the brand for allegedly copying Mbabazi's videos. 

“@Sharon Mbabazi deserves her credit for this commercial idea!! I saw her tiktoks back in September!” wrote a user under Cetaphil’s TikTok video.

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Cetaphil responded to the user and said that it discovered Mbabazi’s work after the commercial went live.

“We love @Sharon Mbabazi’s work too! We had a great chat with her & her stepdad earlier today to tell her how much we’ve loved discovering her work since this commercial went live,” wrote Cetaphil.

Since the controversy erupted, Mbabazi and her stepfather posted an update video on her account on Feb. 11 saying that Cetaphil has “made things right with them.”

“We just wanted to thank you guys so much for all the love and support you've been showing on my page,” said Mbabazi, “And we wanted to say that Cetaphil has reached out, and they've acknowledged all the videos and all the content, and they've made things right with us.”

It was revealed on Feb. 12 that Mbabazi is now a partner of Cetaphil and it appears that she will be making content for the brand.

“So pumped to welcome you to the Cetaphil Creator Fam, Sharon,” wrote Cetaphil under her latest TikTok announcing the news. 

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