Friday 8 June 2012

A sad day as Urban Decay turn to the dark side


I was very sad to hear that Urban Decay, who were one of the mainstays of cruelty free cosmetics, have decided to sell their products in China. Under Chinese laws, cosmetics and their ingredients that are sold in China must be tested on animals. Urban Decay (isn't that a great name for a company with decaying morals) know this.
Ironically, this is one of the ads still on their company site. Misleading or what?

After their announcement the company has quite rightly lost their Leaping Bunny accreditation. This means that although they are listed in my paper copy of the Little Book of Cruelty Free 2012 they are no longer a cruelty free company.

What Urban Decay say
In their statement (taken down from their site because of their customer's anger at what they're doing), Urban Decay claim that ‘For 16 years, we have been committed to two key causes: women’s rights, and the fight against animal testing’ yet China has an appalling human rights record especially when it comes to women who are treated like second class citizens.
Here’s their ‘it isn’t us, it’s them (the Chinese government)' statement.
They claim they won't make a profit for some time, so they're going their for humanitarian reasons? Of course not, China has over a billion people. It's money Urban Decay want and I personally believe saying otherwise is misleading.
What their customers are saying
Customers have quite rightly vented their anger at this decision on the company’s Facebook page.

What the Leaping Bunny people are saying
The Leaping Bunny program quickly acted and have removed Urban Decay from their lists as well as issuing a statement saying why.

How do I know now if a company is completely cruelty free?
For a free downloadable guide to cruelty free companies (Urban Decay have been removed), go to http://www.leapingbunny.org/shopping.phpthere’s also an option to have the paper version sent to you. I have one and it comes in very handy. It will fit in your purse or back pocket.

I would also advise people to AVOID any products made in China. You can't even trust clothing from China for fear that the faux fur is real fur from cats or dogs.

2 comments:

  1. A sad day indeed...I used to love Urban Decay products and bought them specifically as they were cruelty-free.

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  2. I couldn't believe they abandoned their principles so easily. So sad that at a time when there's bans on cosmetics testing that more companies seem to be ditching their morals to get Chinese money.

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