Meghan Markle's 'As Ever' Brand Accused of Copying Branding From Another Company
Reportedly, Markle's brand shares poetic undertones on the website, just like another children’s clothing brand.
Meghan Markle takes pride in her lifestyle brand 'As Ever' (initially introduced as American Riviera Orchard), viewing it not merely as a commercial venture, but as an authentic extension of her own personal experiences. Grounded in her enduring love for cooking, gardening, and intentional hosting, the curated collection of home goods and artisanal fruit preserves reflects a philosophy she describes as a 'love language.' However, a recent controversy seems to shake the very foundation of her carefully created public image. American journalist Paula Froelich: Uncensored unearthed Markle's rebranding strategy and the eerie similarity with another American vintage clothing line.
Froelich highlighted that Markle's brand shares poetic undertones on the website, just like San Francisco-based children’s clothing brand Lil Olives, founded by Danya Ghutta. She further compared the mission statements of both brands and found them identical, with heavy use of AI-based prompts. Upon examination, it was revealed that both brands' slogans express similar ideas and resonate with human emotions. As Ever embodies Markle's enthusiasm for cooking and entertaining, whereas Lil Olives represents a mother's desire to provide sentiment-evoking attire for children. Despite their distinct offerings, both statements employ clichéd language and elicit a sense of shared nostalgia, creating concerns about the validity and uniqueness of their branding narratives. Both eventually want to connect emotionally with consumers, but through comparable artistic decisions that may seem disingenuous.
(L) Meghan Markle at the 2025 Time Summit in New York; (R) As Ever promotion. Image Source: Getty Images | (L) Jemal Countess; (R) Instagram/@aseverofficialFroelich wrote that the two statements overuse meaningless AI-loved words like 'quiet', 'slow', 'love', 'soft', etc. "Both statements were so similar in tone, content, and (most importantly) in triggering my gag reflex, I decided to run them by their original author, Google’s Gemini/Claude AI," she continued. "The (As Ever) text is almost an exact clone of the "Lil Olives" copy you just looked at, simply swapped with a royal branding theme." "AI generator has taken the same structural skeleton and "mad-libbed" it for a lifestyle brand… It follows a rigid narrative formula, simply swapping the nouns to fit the specific prompt," she wrote.
The said controversy gained wind after fans pointed out a child model on Lil Olives' site looked strikingly similar to Princess Lilibet. "Lili walking in the garden and the child on Lil Olives website. Colour me crazy, but the pic of Lili in the sunglasses has been removed from Lil Olives' website, even did a search for the buttercream dress, and the pic has been removed," @CoastEvanora stated. "I think 'Lili' is a computer-generated image," @vax_dodger accused.
"Both little girls seem to be wearing the same bracelet on the wrist. How odd," @pegisbaking said while referring to Princess Lilibet's bracelet in her 5th birthday picture posted by Markle. Express UK deepened the mystery by reporting that Lil Olives items include accessories with crown references, including a dress named 'Duchess', and another called 'Camellia', referring to Queen Camilla. Hence, Markle's clever marketing tactics raise questions about how she is profiting from them.
