The Hong Kong-based cosmetics firm Woke Up Like This (WULT) is in hot water on social media after a Twitter user picked up on the fact that it had named one of a series of liquid blushes after Anne Frank.
Ben M. Freeman, who said that he broke the story, wrote that "Naming a shade of blush after Anne Frank, who was a victim of genocide, is revolting. Dead Jews are not a marketing opportunity."
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Journalist Claire Coleman tweeted that she was "staggered" that at no point did anyone in the WULT team "wake up" and say, "This might not be appropriate."
The Anne Frank blush is one of a series of five shades of liquid blush, all named after famous women. Other shades pay tribute to writer Virginia Woolf, philanthropist Melinda Gates, and painter Frida Kahlo.
Following the uproar, WULT said that the legacy of Anne Frank's famous book The Diary of a Young Girl was to inspire hope even though it was written in circumstances of unimaginable hardship.
The company said it was "extremely sorry" that its "tribute" caused offense, and said that its intention had been exactly the opposite: "To shine a little light … during the global pandemic."
"We sincerely apologize for any miscommunication," the company said, adding that it had stopped sales of "Dream Like Anne."
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