It started with a brave tweet, which was an expression of disappointment and dismay, by the founder and CEO of local makeup company Colourette Cosmetics, Nina Cabrera (@theninaellaine) over the government’s response to the current challenges faced by Filipinos.
“Will we always be left to fend for ourselves? Can someone please take accountability for the Filipino people?!!!” The tweet came with the hashtag #NasaanAngPangulo which has been turning up on social media over the past several weeks as the country is being whipped by calamity after calamity.
But Duterte supporters surely did not take the tweet lightly, flooding her social media accounts with hate messages.
“If you believe you are an influencer, stop politicizing,” says one commenter. “Call people to unite in this time of crisis, not [to] divide.”
“Bakit hindi na lang ikaw ang tumulong? Yung pangulo mas maraming trabaho kesa sa yo,” says another.
“Mukhang nasobrahan ng kaarogantehan, at napunta sa dibdib nya,” reads a body-shaming tweet.
Some even launched a campaign to #boycottCOLOURETTEcosmetics. There was even a call to cancel orders, following the 11-11 online shopping campaigns of Lazada and Shopee.
Fortunately, Nina is social media savvy. She ain’t got over 963K followers on TikTok for nothing, and 67K followers on Twitter, and 70K on Instagram, and 68K on YouTube. She’s also an experienced entrepreneur, starting her business from zero five years ago, according to her YouTube vlog. The lady knows how to play her cards well.
“Since we’re getting all the spotlight now, let’s do something good about it,” she told her TikTok followers. And by that, she meant launching a fundraising drive she calls “Check out for a Cause,” where 100% of the sales of her five bestselling Color Tint cosmetics will be donated to the victims of Typhoon Ulysses. What’s more, she even rode on the #boycottCOLOURETTEcosmetics hashtag by using it on her tweets.
As of her last post on Twitter, she claims her campaign has already raised over P1.5 million in sales. “Hayaan nyo na sila, guys. They can bash us all they want. But at the end of the day, alam naman natin kung ano ang ginagawa natin para sa mga kababayan natin. They made Colourette trend and now we’re answering with donation drives,” she said on TikTok.
“Binato nga tayo ng napakaraming lemons, guys. But we chose not just to make lemonade but to build a lemonade stand. They tried to pull us down and look what we’ve done,” she added.
When asked by one TikTok follower what she’ll get from all this, she said, “To be honest, wala po kaming kita.” But she’s happy to inform them the company got an overwhelming amount of sales during the 11-11 shopping events, so this is her way of giving back as well. “We are practically donating our entire inventory to the Ulysses victims,” she says beaming.
Meanwhile, her followers seem quite delighted with how Nina was able to turn all the hate that came her way into something positive, productive, and beneficial to many. #NasaansiNinaCabrera? She’s on top of the world.
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