Another company has succumb to the business pull of china, Urban Decay announced a few days ago that they were going to start trading in China (Press Release). China currently allows animal testing on cosmetics as part of their "safety" control for their consumers. I have written in the past about Lush's Campaign about animal cruelty and the shock tactics they used. I reiterate now that I do not feel any need for this treatment, and am disappointed that this still goes on with the technology advances that there are currently.
Urban Decay follows Estee Lauder (and the companies they own like MAC, Bobbi Brown, Clinique etc.), Avon, and Mary Kay that has seen the potential market in China and decided that they want a chunk of it. In that part I do not see how they could avoid it. In the climate we are in China are a very strong economy and in that sense there is more dispensable income to be spent.
This is the thing that is not sitting well with me, Urban Decay was one of the first companies to get the BUVA (Press Release) on their product , which they have now been stripped of (other strippees include L’Occitane, Yves Rocher, and Caudalie). They also launched a campaign to stop animal testing called "How Could We?". They promoted a majority of their business on the fact that they were cruelty free, and that's why this bothers me. China are actually on the brink of signing to use non cruelty testing in the late summer (PETA), so couldn't they wait?
So my question is "How Could they?"
I think the thing that bothers me the most about all this (and I've read & thought a lot about it over the past couple of days) is the fact that UD heavily market themselves as Cruelty Free. Although they themselves don't do animal testing by allowing the brand to be marketed in China they have now opened themselves up to Animal Testing by the Chinese government but not by them.
ReplyDeleteSo that's where I get a bit confused - if we are looking to buy cruelty free are we still okay to buy or are we not okay to buy because they have opened themselves up to maybe being animal tested by the Chinese government?
I'd like to hear what UD have to say about this whole thing. So far, they are remaining quiet.
http://missjaynebecca.blogspot.co.uk/
That what boiled my blood, the fact that they have spents years into promoting themselves as a cruelty free brand to then backtrack on that. I do give them this - At least they did a press release unlike other brands but trying to find it is a mission in itself as the website doesn't host it. It is all vesy dishearting. Thanks for the comment x
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