TikTok turned serums and retinoids into status items for children. For marketers, the boom was also a lesson in where viral demand ends and real risk begins.
A few years ago the typical buyer of a $100 anti-ageing serum was in her forties. Then TikTok filled with “get ready with me” videos and shelfie hauls, and the buyers got younger. In 2024 The Spinoff reported seeing children as young as six in Mecca stores.
Dermatologists weren’t impressed. “Soap, water and sunscreen is all that’s needed for most young people with normal and healthy skin,” Dr Louise Reiche, a dermatologist and past president of the New Zealand Dermatological Society, told Consumer NZ.
The American Academy of Pediatrics makes the same point about retinoids, acids and vitamin C, which target wrinkles and collagen loss. “These aren’t concerns for kids.”
What virality bought
Drunk Elephant became the brand most associated with “Sephora kids”. Its sales then fell about 65% year on year in the first quarter of 2025, according to trade coverage of owner Shiseido’s results.
Shiseido hasn’t blamed tween customers. Trade title Cosmetics Business argued the bigger problem was “chasing virality”. In January the brand launched a campaign called “Please Enjoy Responsibly”, aimed squarely at adults.
The lesson for any brand is that demand built on a trend can leave just as fast, and a customer base that skews too young can put off the adults who pay full price.
Even on TikTok, hype isn’t the whole story. A May 2025 YouGov survey of US TikTok users found 30% had bought something through TikTok Shop in the past year, but just 12% cited an influencer or celebrity recommendation. Price and convenience mattered more.
The New Zealand rules
New Zealand advertisers have less room than many assume. The Advertising Standards Authority’s Children’s Advertising Code has applied to all ads since 1 November 2024. It defines children as under 16 and requires “a high standard of social responsibility”.
Under the code, ads can’t suggest “inferiority or lack of acceptance for not having the advertised brand or product”. They also can’t create an “unrealistic sense of body image” or “undue pressure to conform”.
Influencer content counts as targeting children if the influencer is under 16, or at least a quarter of their audience is. When it does, the ASA’s guidance says disclosure should be “prominent, interruptive”.
The ASA’s general rule on identifying ads applies to everyone. A free product counts as payment, disclosure in a bio isn’t enough, and the advertiser and the influencer are both responsible. In 2021 the ASA upheld a complaint against an influencer’s undisclosed Dermalogica posts.
Brands that drew a line
Some brands have gone the other way. Teen skincare brand Bubble labels its Moon Walk exfoliating serum “Don’t exfoliate unless you’re 14 or older”.
Bubble hasn’t escaped scrutiny either. In 2025 US advertising self-regulators found its safety claims were supported, but recommended it drop some efficacy claims for children under 13.
Mecca requires parental approval for under-18s in its Beauty Loop loyalty programme and has published advice on telling a tween they’re not ready for retinol.
Regulators and retailers overseas are moving. Sweden’s Apotek Hjärtat pharmacy chain stopped selling acid, retinoid and vitamin C products to under-15s without a parent’s permission in 2024.
A California bill to ban sales of some anti-ageing products to minors failed in 2025. In New York, a bill that began as an under-18 sales ban was amended to require a warning label instead, and passed the state Senate in June. The British Association of Dermatologists also wants warning labels.
The marketing takeaway
The boom shows the gap between who a product reaches and who it’s made for. A brand can’t control who watches its content.
It can control who it pays to post, what the posts say and whether the product tells children it isn’t for them. For New Zealand advertisers, the code makes that a compliance question as well as an ethical one.
