In what The Daily Beast has aptly described as an “astonishing coincidence,” two new product offerings for Meghan Markle’s forthcoming lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard—raspberry jam and, curiously, luxury dog biscuits—were teased at the absolutely wrong time this weekend in a move that Meghan seems to have had nothing to do with.
As news broke on Friday that her sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, would be returning to royal duty for the first time in nearly six months at the next day’s Trooping the Colour—an announcement made via a vulnerable statement on social media and a stunning portrait of Kate taken last week by Matt Porteous—Meghan and Prince Harry’s longtime friend Nacho Figueras revealed the two new product offerings in his Instagram Stories. While the general public seems to be excited about Meghan’s forthcoming brand—which was announced three months ago, back in March—the timing really was pretty terrible, and made the situation look like something it wasn’t: Meghan trying to upstage Kate, who announced in March that she is battling cancer, detected earlier this year.
But, according to The Daily Beast, “Meghan’s team reportedly didn’t set out to sabotage Kate,” and the anger being leveled at the Duchess of Sussex “is not justified, Meghan’s camp believe.” Because it’s a day that ends in “y,” Meghan was criticized on social media for the post made by Harry’s polo friend Figueras, and “critics suspected that Meghan’s fingerprints are all over the affair,” leveling accusations that Meghan was looking to take away from Kate’s big return.
But, not so: according to The Daily Beast, “Meghan did not order up the post from Figueras, and in fact had no input over when or if he would post.” The outlet added that “Of course, ceding exact control over context and timings is an inherent risk in a user-led social media campaign, especially when your cheerleaders are powerful celebrities in their own right who might not react well to having their posts micromanaged.” (Figueras isn’t what we’d call a “powerful celebrity,” but many who received one of 50 of Meghan’s first product offering, American Riviera Orchard’s strawberry jam, very much are—think Kris Jenner, Chrissy Teigen, Mindy Kaling, Tracee Ellis Ross, and many more.)
“While I am sure the gift packages came with notes requesting social media coverage, you can’t tell Nacho Figueras what to do, so I think it’s certain the timing of his post was his own idea,” a marketing expert told The Daily Beast. “The larger point here is that the American Riviera Orchard campaign has been phenomenally successful, and cost Meghan nothing. It is a textbook social media campaign. The only problem is that there still seems to be nothing actually for sale, so what is it all for? I guess we will find out.”
