Drunk Elephant / Tatcha

Drunk Elephant and Tatcha, prominent 'clean beauty' brands, launched a range of serums marketed for their 'clean botanicals' at a retail price of $78. These products featured ingredients like neem, turmeric, amla, and tulsi, presented as proprietary active components. The marketing emphasized the purity and efficacy of these ingredients without acknowledging their traditional origins.

Ayurveda (आयुर्वेद) is an ancient, holistic system of medicine with origins in the Indian subcontinent, practiced for thousands of years. It emphasizes a balance between mind, body, and spirit, utilizing a vast pharmacopeia of plant-based remedies, dietary practices, and lifestyle recommendations. Ingredients such as neem, turmeric, amla, and tulsi are foundational to Ayurvedic formulations, valued not just for their individual properties but for their synergistic effects within the system, addressing various health and wellness concerns across diverse communities in India.

The appropriation was primarily called out by cultural commentators and online communities who recognized the uncredited use of Ayurvedic ingredients. Objections centered on the brands' rebranding of ancient Indian medicinal plants as novel 'clean' actives, effectively stripping them of their cultural and historical context. Critics highlighted the lack of acknowledgment for Ayurveda, arguing that this constituted a form of cultural appropriation and biopiracy, profiting from traditional knowledge without proper attribution or benefit-sharing with the originating communities.