Skincare brand Bioré and content creator Cecilee Max-Brown have come under fire after posting a branded TikTok that spoke about school shootings. Max-Brown posted a now deleted TikTok to her account last week in collaboration with Bioré for their pore strips. The TikTok was created for mental health awareness month, with Bioré asking creators and consumers to share what they are ‘stripping away’. In the TikTok, Max-Brown spoke about her experience of surviving a school shooting and told viewers that in collaboration with Bioré she was ‘stripping away’ anxiety. ‘We want you to get it all out,’ referring to Bioré’s mental health campaign, she adds: ‘not only what’s in your pores but most importantly what’s on your mind too.’ Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The content creator and model then went onto explain that she’s be struggling with her anxiety ‘after seeing the effects of gun violence first hand.’ At the end of the video she says: ‘Join me and Bioré skincare in speaking up about mental health.’ The TikTok was accompanied by various videos of Max-Brown applying skincare products, taking walks, and journaling and more. Viewers were shocked to see something so serious and sensitive as a school shooting spoken about in the context of a paid partnership video for skincare. Despite the original TikTok being taken down, users have re uploaded it, with people leaving comments such as ‘is this real?’ ‘This is disgusting!’ ‘WHAT?!’ ‘Capitalism wild…’ and more. Some also took to Twitter to express their disapproval of the advertisement choices made. In response to the backlash, both Bioré and Max-Brown have issued statements regarding the advert. Bioré said that they were ‘so sorry’ for the TikTok, in a statement posted to Instagram. They wrote ‘we did it the wrong way. We lacked sensitivity around an incredibly serious tragedy, and our tonality was completely inappropriate.’ They added: ‘We are committed to continuing our mental health mission, but we promise to do it in a better way.’ Max-Brown issued her own statement on TikTok, writing ‘I am so sorry about this partnership video. This was strictly meant to spread awareness about the struggles that I have had with anxiety since our school shooting.’ She added, ‘I did not mean to desensitise the traumatic event that took place.’ @cecileemax Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Microsoft has been given a non-voting observer seat on OpenAI’s board, following the official return of Sam Altman as the ChatGPT company’s chief. OpenAI reached a deal to have Mr Altman back as the company’s chief executive, just days after it abruptly fired him. Mr Altman said he was looking forward to returning to OpenAI with the support of Microsoft chief Satya Nadella. “Sam Altman is back as CEO, Mira Murati as CTO and Greg Brockman as President. OpenAI has a new initial board,” OpenAI posted on Thursday on X. “I have never been more excited about the future. I am extremely grateful for everyone’s hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry,” Mr Altman said in a memo to employees. The addition of Microsoft, which has heavily invested in OpenAI, to its board as a non-voting observer means the software giant will get more access to view the company’s progress. It will, however, not have an official vote on its decisions. Mr Altman’s return also resolves some of the uncertainties around the non-profit company and its leadership. “The best interests of the company and the mission always come first. It is clear that there were real misunderstandings between me and members of the board,” the returning chief said in his memo. “For my part, it is incredibly important to learn from this experience and apply those learnings as we move forward as a company,” he said. “I welcome the board’s independent review of all recent events.” With three of the board members who ousted Mr Altman now gone, the company said its new board will consist of former Salesforce co-chief Bret Taylor, who will be OpenAI chairman, former treasury secretary Larry Summers and Quora boss Adam D’Angelo. OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who voted to remove Mr Altman and later changed position to push for his return, will also exit the board, the company said. Greg Brockman, who quit the company amid the chaos last week, is returning to his previous role as the company’s president, OpenAI said. “Our research roadmap is clear; this was a wonderfully focusing time. I share the excitement you all feel; we will turn this crisis into an opportunity,” Mr Altman told employees. Read More Inside OpenAI’s bizarre boardroom battle with the man ‘who can see the future’ Microsoft stock just hit an all-time high amid OpenAI chaos Microsoft chief hints Sam Altman may return as OpenAI staff demand board resignation OpenAI staff ‘threaten to quit over ousting of Sam Altman’ Microsoft’s new AI tool cleans up messy backgrounds in video calls Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away