Just when fans thought Smith’s recipes couldn’t get any more absurd, she shared a video tutorial whipping up her latest morning craving, “a delicious red Marc Jacobs tote bag.”
On Monday, the Marc Jacobs TikTok account shared a video of Smith mixing together flour, eggs water and red food coloring to form a dough. Smith then kneaded the dough until it formed into a miniature designer bag. After an hour im the oven at 350 degrees, Smith monotonously declared the “perfectly risen and red” full-sized Marc Jacobs tote ready to wear.
The ad has been making quite the impression on FYPs across the app, racking up more than 11 million views so far. Many in the comment section have referred to it as a “masterclass in marketing” and joke that they now “finally understand” Smith and her online brand.@marcjacobs The Tote Bag, made from scratch by @Nara Smith ♬ original sound - marcjacobs
“She cooked but y’all ATE with this one,” one TikTok user said in a comment liked by the official Marc Jacobs account.
Other commenters have mentioned similarities between Smith’s Marc Jacobs videos and other brand videos made by a smaller creator, Mary Korlin-Downs. Last December, Korlin-Downs collaborated with the designer brand to make a “gifting” video for the holiday season. In her video, Korlin-Downs pops a single red cherry in the oven, which magically bakes into a red Marc Jacobs bag. In another video for Levi’s, Korlin-Downs is seen mixing together a dough to roll out into a tank top.
That same day the ad was released, Korlin-Downs posted a video of herself watching Smith’s video captioned “Damn. Sucks when creators stop being creative….” After receiving a number of tags and DMs from TikTok users noting Smith’s similarities to her own content, Korlin-Downs later posted a response video comparing her own content ideas to the ones used in Smith’s Marc Jacobs video.
“I never think one person owns an idea or owns a concept,” Korlin-Downs said in the video. “We are all in this creative field and we all take different versions of this concept and make it our own. However, I do feel like it wasn’t made her own.”@marykorlindowns Replying to @katarina @marcjacobs @Nara Smith #greenscreenvideo ♬ Chill Vibes - Tollan Kim
TikTok commenters have also mentioned that this is not the first time Smith has been accused of copying others’ content. In a now-deleted video posted in June, South African TikTok creator Onezwa Mbola accused Smith of ripping off her ideas without credit. Smith denied having seen Mbola’s content.
"For months now, I have watched a very, very popular content creator ... continuously use my ideas to get views," Mbola said in the video. "Now that would be fine, except in South Africa, we don't get paid for views, and where she is, they get paid for views. So she has been making money off of stealing my content."
While Smith has yet to directly address the Korlin-Downs claims, she did post a video on Tuesday that acknowledged other criticisms she’s received about her vlogging her glamorous trad-wife lifestyle.
“I wasn’t aware that finding joy in cooking for my husband and kids would automatically mean that I just slave away in the kitchen, I don’t have a job and I don’t have a whole production team at my house making that happen,” Smith said in the TikTok. “To clarify, none of that is true. I’m a working mom juggling all kinds of hats and responsibilities.”
@marykorlindowns Replying to @♡HEAVEN ♡ what a wild monday haha #marcjacobs #narasmith ♬ original sound - Mary Korlin-Downs 🤍
