Meghan Markle, who has dubbed herself the duchess of diversity and queen of compassion, has now taken a bold leap into the world of business with a rustic lifestyle brand called As Ever. The brand features high-priced jars of jam, honey, and edible flowers, seemingly priced as if they were harvested on another planet.
Unsurprisingly, things took a chaotic turn almost immediately. Within half an hour of the website going live, her luxurious pantry items sold out—because nothing screams refined taste like a $28 jar of honey adorned with a crest that bears a suspicious resemblance to that of a small town in Spain. In fact, the mayor of that town, Pérez, accused Meghan’s team of blatantly copying their historic emblem, launching the brand under the cloud of international plagiarism.
The drama didn’t stop there. In a twist fit for a TV drama, it was revealed that Meghan had outsourced the operational side of her business to a company called Snowcommerce. If you've never heard of them, you're not alone—but neither have many blind individuals, apparently. The tech retail firm has been the subject of multiple lawsuits for operating websites that are inaccessible to visually impaired users. This, despite Meghan’s public image as a champion of inclusivity. One plaintiff claimed he couldn’t even purchase SpongeBob merchandise through a Snowcommerce-run site. Being too problematic for SpongeBob merchandise is quite a feat.
To add insult to injury, Snowcommerce has a dismal one-star rating with the Better Business Bureau. The complaints are numerous—missing orders, nonexistent customer service, and radio silence after customers spent as much as $150. One frustrated customer declared they'd never been treated so poorly by a business, while another issued a stark warning: "Stay away from this company at all costs." A third summed it up simply with "Horrible business." And this is the firm Meghan chose to partner with.
The problems don’t stop at bad service. Snowcommerce has also been pursued multiple times by Ohio tax authorities, having accumulated thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes, including a recent lien filed just last month. Perhaps Meghan saw this as an underdog story, but it’s looking more like an under-audit nightmare. It's not as if her team was unaware—buried in fine print on the As Ever website is a disclaimer making it clear that Snowcommerce is entirely responsible for all transactions. Translation: if your fancy jam never shows up, don’t bother contacting Meghan’s team.
And just when it seemed things couldn't get worse, the brand name As Ever is already a registered trademark in New York. So Meghan is now operating under a name that legally belongs to someone else. If she’s not careful, she might end up fighting battles with both the trademark office and accessibility advocates at the same time.
In the end, Meghan’s lifestyle venture appears to be less a heartfelt business endeavor and more a showcase of missteps—from inaccessible websites and questionable partners to plagiarized logos and legal oversights. As Ever is quickly turning into a royal mess.
