The Evil that is L’Oreal

I think going Cruelty Free means that eventually you start resenting brands for what they are doing behind the scenes and what they show to the public to make them buy their products. I am sure vegans, vegetarians, animal welfare activists and Cruelty Free shoppers would agree. So today I thought I would discuss my dislike of one brand; L’Oreal.

L’Oreal make a wide, wide range of products from makeup to haircare, market their brand as a luxury, trendy mid-level brand and sell their products all over the world. But that’s the problem; L’Oreal sell their products to China.

Here is L’Oreals statement on animal testing, from their website which is cited below.

L’Oréal is committed to only market products whose safety has been evaluated according to rigorous and ethical protocols…Traditionally, the safety assessment of products and ingredients was done by means of animal testing.

However, since the 1980s, L’Oréal believes that the future of safety evaluation lies in the development of alternative, “predictive” strategies. This approach is built on the substantial scientific progress being made in the fields of reconstructed skin models, molecular modeling and also high-performance data processing. It allows us to exploit all of the data that the Group has been accumulated over the course of a century, representing over 50 000 ingredients.

These new strategies and the considerable research efforts behind them have paid off: in 1989, L’Oréal was able to end all testing of its products on animals, without making our products any less safe. Since March 2013, the Group has taken another decisive step: The Group no longer tests on animal, anywhere in the world, and does not delegate this task to others. An exception could be made if regulatory authorities required it for safety or regulatory purposes.

More than 30 years ago L’Oréal chartered a new course that today allows us to innovate for beauty around the world without recourse to animal testing.

http://www.loreal.com/csr-commitments/l%E2%80%99or%C3%A9al-answers/the-question-of-animal-testing

What really REALLY irritates me about this statement is that they have worded it to make it sound like they don’t test on animals at all and that they are a completely Cruelty Free company when they are not! Nor are they being compassionate towards animals in any way whatsoever.

Yes, previously animal testing was essential to any skin/hair/makeup/household product as we had no other means of testing what was being made, such as in the 1950s, and our attitudes towards many things including animal testing was also entirely different. So L’Oreals first paragraph is completely true.

However, they make a big deal of them stopping animal testing in 2013 and becoming a more compassionate company, when in reality it was simply that new legislation came into place in March 2013 which meant it was illegal to sell products that have been tested on animals in Europe, even if said testing was done outside of the EU. So L’Oreal are simply following the law, not stopping the torture they make animals endure for their products.

The main issue in this statement however is the last line;

An exception could be made if regulatory authorities required it for safety or regulatory purposes.

This means that the if a country requires animal testing to be done for them to sell their products in that country, they ‘make an exception’. For example, China insist upon all cosmetics being tested on animals before being allowed on the Chinese market, and L’Oreal are happy for them to do so for their products, which completely goes against everything they have said in their statement. They are happy to sell their products to China and cause mass amounts of animal suffering and death for them to have a bigger profit. China have no animal welfare laws and the experiments which they force on animals is horrific, not to mention the countless other barbaric ways they treat animals in that country.

Now, L’Oreal is no different to any other big company out there like Estee Lauder who own Mac, Avon or any of the big makeup brands. Except who they own and who owns them.

L’Oreal own the Body Shop, who market themselves as a Cruelty Free brand. But how can this brand be Cruelty Free when they are up there as one of the biggest companies who export to China? The Body Shop gives the majority of their money to L’Oreal, and whilst that money might not be allowed to directly go to animal testing, it certainly allows other money to be spent on it. In 2014 the Body Shop paid L’Oreal over £21.5 million which helped fund L’Oreals torture of animals by experimentation and funding research in China.

As Naturewatch says on their website;

There’s no getting away from the fact that purchases made at The Body Shop boost the profits of L’Oréal, its parent company – as is clearly seen in L’Oréal’s Annual Financial Report.

The Body Shop is proving time and time again that it really is ‘worth it’ for L’Oréal.  The media has reported that it handed over a dividend of £39.9 million in July 2013, and in 2014 its dividend contribution totaled £21.5 million.

And the Body Shop is no better than L’Oreal. The Body Shop has a questionable past in regards to animal testing and animal welfare, and whilst some people say its owner Annita Roddick would be devastated to know L’Oreal own her brand, I’m not so sure. I believe she knew about the takeover and was happy for it to continue. Her view on animal testing again is very questionable and I would never trust the Body Shop to be completely honest about its past.

They might be approved by the BUAV but that is because the Body Shop and the BUAV have gone into a partnership together and the BUAV promotes them because of this! Ultimately the BUAV supports the Body Shop as Cruelty Free brand, which means both compassionate Cruelty Free shoppers and non-compassionate shoppers buy their products, which means a higher revenue for L’Oreal which means more money for animal testing, product development and further testing in China, and confirming to L’Oreal and the Body Shop that they can continue to hide the truth from people and they will still get millions of pounds! The Body Shop is NOT Cruelty Free because L’Oreal is not Cruelty Free and the allow animal testing on their products to raise their revenues.

Naturewatch, one of the best animal welfare organisations, has a whole page about this on their website, and Boycotting L’Oreal and the Body Shop. We need to stop thinking we can buy Body Shop products, because we are being lied to by the BUAV and by the Body Shop AND L’Oreal. Please see Naturewatchs website here to understand the issue in full and Boycott the Body Shop!

This is also why I refuse to buy anything from Nestle, as they own L’Oreal and ultimately, profits that are made from animal testing go to Nestle, and I cannot support a company that profits from animal testing, let alone what Nestle does itself to animals. Please look at my post on the Truth on Brands here to read about Nestle. Nestle owning L’Oreal means there are two corrupt companies that profit from animal suffering owning the Body Shop, and both companies are happy to let animals suffer and die to further their brand.

Finally, I just want to say, I know this is probably a bit of a rant but it makes me angry when people trying to be Cruelty Free are bought in by L’Oreal and the Body Shops lies and think they are buying Cruelty Free. And I hate L’Oreal for how much suffering they cause to animals, along with Estee Lauder, Avon and all those big makeup brands.

Please look out for my parent company post and go look at Naturewatch. And PLEASE think about who you are supporting, and the huge amount of suffering they are doing to animals.

For the animals xx