London: Former West Indies star Chris Gayle hopes the T20 World Cup will help cricket crack the lucrative US sports market and take the game to a new global level.
American girls between the ages of eight and 12 are gaining thousands of followers on the video platform by modeling make-up purchases.
The trend is mainly focused on the products of the French high-street brand Sephora, which is promoted by the daughter of the star of the reality show Kim Kardashian North West.
They gush from pots of moisturizer or beg their parents to buy them anti-wrinkle cream, pose in front of the mirror with their hair tied up, and discuss popular adult makeup tutorials.
Skin experts have warned that some of the products used in the children’s videos contain ingredients unsuitable for young skin, such as retinol.
“Many of the ‘skin influencers’ are sometimes trusted more than real doctors,” American dermatologist Danilo Del Campo told AFP.
“This has led to an increase in consultations related to skin reactions and concerns arising from the misuse of these preparations,” he warned. “Most parents don’t realize there are any risks.”
“Sephora kids” parrot famous beauty influencers and review high-end products such as moisturizers for nearly 70 euros ($76).
“How can these little girls spend like my salary, really, on skin care?” said one Sephora retailer in the United States in a TikTok video.
Del Campo warned that young skin can be damaged by inappropriate ingredients. He also saw “self-esteem issues” in his child patients, who “feel the need to correct perceived flaws that may not actually exist.”
Sephora employees complained about the behavior of young customers in stores with videos showing messy make-up counters with spilled products.
Sephora, part of luxury group LVMH, did not respond to requests for comment from AFP.
Michael Stora, a psychoanalyst specializing in online behaviour, said the girls in the videos “are not playing with dolls as you would expect at their age – they are dolls”.
Some mothers in the videos defend the trend as just a “game” – but Stora accused parents of “fetifying” their offspring.
Solene Delecourt, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in social inequality, also believes that videos can “contribute to a very stereotypical portrayal of girls and women online.”
“They’re not women, they’re little girls, and they’re already under this intense social pressure,” she said. Delecourt published a study in the journal Nature this month that said online images amplify gender bias, especially against women.
And in recent months, TikTok and other social media platforms have come under fire for the impact of the videos on young people.
In January, the tech giants faced a grilling before the US Senate Judiciary Committee after being accused of not doing enough to thwart online dangers to children, including sexual predators and teen suicides.
