On Oct, 1, = the day before the in-store launch of MAC’s ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ collection, the store staff was anticipating a line-up out the door for the new collection. Marking the 40th anniversary of the cult film, the limited edition line boasts an array of lipsticks, shadows, liners and lashes, packaged in Rocky Horror Picture Show’s trademark biting scarlet lips.
MAC is known for partnering with pop culture icons such as Rihanna and Lorde, but has also been successful with marketing pop culture in the form of limited edition beauty sets. In the past, MAC has teamed up with Hello Kitty, Disney’s Venomous Villains line and even DC comics to bring a Wonder Woman collection to stores. All these collaboration have been successful. Similarly, the RHPS collection was launched online two days before its in-store release, and in a matter of hours products started to sell out across the board internationally.
What makes them so appealing? Is it the fact that they’re limited edition? Or is the fact that MAC is savvy in the ways of marketing and knows what collabs will have people lining up on release day?
The release date was a frenzy starter. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult classic that is synonymous with Halloween, so an Oct. 2 release date was a stellar move to get Halloween lovers hyped for the season. The line also succeeds with channeling the over-the-top costumes and haunting essence of the movie: bold colours and sparkly shadows were a perfect homage to the cult films allure.
On Oct. 2, the first customer had been waiting there since 7:30 a.m., braving the early hour and two-and-a-half-hour wait for the much-sought-after “Frank-N-Furter” lipstick from the collection, which was the first item to sell out on-line.
“I loved the movie and how over-the-top it was!,” Shetal Nand said. “The make-up and clothes were so fun, every Halloween you’ll see at least one person dressed up as a character from the Rocky Horror Picture Show because the movie was so out-there and iconic. That’s why I had to get my hands on the new collection, because it’s so iconic and so bold.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been an interactive experience from its inception in 1973 as a stage play to its adaptation to the silver screen. The movie still plays at cinemas and is known for drawing crowds decked out as their favourite character and bringing props to showings. It was inducted into the United States National Film registry in 2005 for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The Rocky Horror Picture show holds strong cultural significance and is a pop culture phenomenon. The RHPS collection draws and adds on to that cultural significance and celebrates the boldness and wacky fun of the ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ experience.
Taylor Lima
I’ve seen a lot of beauty vloggers talking about this collection and how difficult it was to get ahold of as it was selling out so quickly! The swatches on a lot of the colors look interesting, too. It’s really smart of Mac to team up with a lot of pop culture icons in this way, as it markets their product to people who might not have ever bought something from their brand. I think they also put out a Simpson’s line not too long ago, but it might’ve been another brand.
Samantha Faith VanDeventer
I love your descriptions! “…Packaged in Rocky Horror Picture Show’s trademark biting scarlet lips.” It’s awesome you got someone to talk to you about their love of the film and the excitement for the products. I can imagine it’s hard to get people to talk for an article like this, but it adds an interesting insight into the importance of this article. Rocky Horror is a classic and being able to buy make up like the legendary Frank-N-Furter’s is pretty epic!