Meghan Markle has officially launched the first product from her new American Riviera Orchard brand but the Duchess of SusđâŻđ is already being slammed for ânot creating anythingâ.
Meghan Markle has finally launched the first product from her new business venture American Riviera Orchard but the âsickly sweetâ item is already being criticised.
Markle unveiled the inaugural item from the range, a line of strawberry jams, on Tuesday and gifted jars of her conserves to a range of influencers and socialites.
Designer Tracy Robbins, who is a close friend of the Duchess of SusđâŻđ, posted a snap on her Instagram story of a jar of American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam marked â17/50â.
âThank you for the delicious basket! I absolutely love this jam so not sure Iâm sharing with anyone,â Robbins wrote.
Meghan’s first product is a line of strawberry jams. Picture: Instagram.
Jars of jam were sent out to influencers on Tuesday. Picture: Instagram.
âThank you M!
âBreakfast, Lunch and dinner just got a little sweeter.â
On X (formerly known as Twitter), royal watchers were puzzled by Meghanâs decision to number each jam jar one through 50, which is typically a technique used for limited-edition art prints.
“17 or 50! Thatâs hilarious, you would think it’s a limited print,” one user wrote.
Meghan sent the jams to pals including Tracy Robbins. Picture by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds.
“Limited production for limited customers,” another added.
“Did you not laugh at the pretentiousness of the 17/50 label? It is not exactly limited edition art is it,â a third user wrote.
Other users pointed out that the product appeared lacklustre and failed to live up to the hype of Meghanâs launch announcement a month ago.
“Fifty pots of jam do not (make) a business empire… she is not creating anything except a brand. Everything will be made by other manufacturers and get her label slapped on it,” one user wrote.
Despite sending jars of jam to influencers the public still cannot purchase Meghan’s product. Picture by Andrew Chin/Getty Images.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles-based royal correspondent and Markle expert Kinsey Schofield slammed the jams as âanother PR campaignâ and lampooned Meghanâs brand as just the latest in a line of unfocussed career moves.
âTwo years ago we were talking about this woman running for president, and now weâre talking about her making jam,â she told TalkTV on Tuesday.
âOh how the mighty have fallen.â
Ms Schofield also questioned why Meghan would send out the jams to her influencer pals for free while the product is not actually available for sale yet.
âThese are gifted influencers packages that some of her contacts received but if I go to the American Riviera Orchard website today I cannot purchase (the jam),â she said.