Picture this: You’re walking through Target, trying to find a product that will help you achieve clearer, healthier skin. The aisles in front of you are filled with a sea of minimalist packaging and bottles that advertise the amounts of niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and other complicated-sounding ingredients contained within them. There’s one skincare company often credited with the rise of these clinical marketing tactics: The Ordinary.
Launched in 2016 under its parent company DECIEM, The Ordinary stuck out among its competitors for its naming practices and low prices. In a market saturated with products that advertised anti-aging or hydrating effects while obscuring what ingredients caused those effects, products like The Ordinary’s Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% serum made a splash by featuring the active ingredients that make them work. The average cost of its products at launch was also between $6-10, making the brand all the more appealing because of its affordability. Though its prices have risen since then, the majority of its products are still under $30, and many of its signature items are still below $10.
Despite its quick rise to popularity, The Ordinary was not free from difficulty. Its founder, Brandon Truaxe, was widely praised for his success and innovation at first, but he created problems by posting erratically on social media. One of his biggest controversies stemmed from an Instagram post where he claimed that DECIEM and all of the companies under its umbrella would suddenly be shutting down all operations. Estée Lauder, a much larger cosmetics company with a stake in DECIEM, eventually sued Truaxe and had him removed as CEO of DECIEM because of his behavior in 2018. Tragically, he passed away a few months later in early 2019. On DECIEM’s website, they state that they are working to “continue Brandon’s vision for a better world of beauty.”
Although there are now more brands on the skincare market with similar focuses on simplicity and affordability, such as The Inkey List and Revolution, The Ordinary’s continued popularity after controversies and increased competition proves that there’s something special about it that keeps people coming back.