Who doesn't love a nice dupe! In the Beauty industry, a dupe is short for "duplicate" which is a cheaper alternative for a product that has the same claim of a more expensive product.
Dupes are amazing in the beauty industry because it allows people to have an affordable alternative for great products! I would NEVER spend $20 for a Beautyblender when I can spend $5 at Walmart for a Real Techniques beauty sponge.
But I do have to admit that some expensive products are better than their supposed dupes. Personally, I don't like the Maybelline Baby Skin primer just because it doesn't keep my makeup on but I love the Fenty Beauty primer. I have been doing makeup for eight years and I have learned which products are worth the splurge such as primer, contour and eye shadows.
Dupes, although aren't always justifiable. They leech off of bigger brands to sell their similar products for cheaper. But, they do not advertise as dupes, beauty influencers are the ones that advocate for the dupe. This makes the products more acceptable because they are not completely ripping off the luxury brand.
All things aside, I always will buy some dupes, being in college I can't afford Sephora brands.
This type of "copying" doesn't only happen with dupes, but there are so many scandals where beauty brands steal ideas in advertising as other brands. The biggest scandal that I can think of is when Huda Beauty was exposed by Jeffree Star for stealing the advertising campaign of a small indie company, Beauty Bakerie. Huda Beauty had a loose powder named "Easy Bake" and used the same idea in advertising their product as Beauty Bakerie uses for their entire company. Huda Beauty got a lot of negative reactions when this was revealed and they suffered the consequences of getting a bad reputation after that.
Huda Beauty's Easy Bake powder Advertisement Campaign (left). Beauty Bakerie's Advertising example for their brand (right).