I’ve just had an email from Urban Decay with a statement about their plan to sell in China where animal tesing is mandatory. They’ve listened to feedback and reversed their decision. How fab. If you want more info follow the link at the bottom of the page. I did ask them how they felt that social media had impacted on their decision – because remember pre Twitter, Blogs and Facebook, they’d have had no idea of the strength of feeling of their customers. (It’s also worth making the point that pre social media Urban Decay fans would probably never have known about where else in the world they sell.) but rather disappointingly, after using the very social media service that told them how UD cruelty free fans felt to spread the news of their decision change to those UD fans, I got a very cool response basically saying they had nothing further to say. Oh, rilly??? Just goes to show what I’m always rather boringly banging on about – there is no better feedback for any brand than on blogs.
Here’s the statement:
UD Decides Not to Sell in China
After careful consideration of many issues, we have decided not to start selling Urban Decay products in China. While several factors were important in reaching this decision, ultimately we did not feel we could comply with current regulations in China and remain true to our core principles. We know there are many progressive consumers in China who would embrace an opportunity to purchase non-animal tested products – our hope remains that we have the chance to offer Urban Decay products to these consumers someday in the future.
Following our initial announcement, we realized that we needed to step back, carefully review our original plan, and talk to a number of individuals and organizations that were interested in our decision. We regret that we were unable to respond immediately to many of the questions we received, and appreciate the patience our customers have shown as we worked through this difficult issue.
Since our founding in 1996, we have been committed to ending animal testing in the cosmetics industry. As demonstrated by the renewed support we have received from organizations like PETA and the CCIC, this principle remains at our core. Urban Decay does not test its finished products on animals, nor do we allow others to test on our behalf, and we require our suppliers to certify that the raw materials used in the manufacture of our products are not tested on animals. Urban Decay is proud to be100% cruelty-free.
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8 comments
FINALLY. well done Urban Decay!
Although maybe they should have done this research before releasing the original statement x
i am not happy about the statement. Would it have killed them to say: we responded to you, fans and loyal customers and thought we couldn’t do this to you’ or something like that and ‘didn’t want to lose you and changed our decisions’?
why did they have to be so cold?
the brand was losing their identity in the process of their move to china, would it have killed them to just confess that and say something like i don’t ‘we came to our senses’
I am a little disappointed but then again, this is not alice in wonderland, this is real life, and I guess a brand will never be that friendly. unless you’re aussie or innocent smoothie I gues, whose language on their bottles will always me to me like a friend talking to me. oh well. I think the damage is done. I’ll probably still buy the makeup and that but they have disappointed me xx
liloo/@tsunimee xx
Hurrah
PS Was I the only one who thought that on last night’s Question Time Johny Rotten looked like he was ageing better than Louise Mensch?
I don’t care that they didn’t mention that they were listening to customer feedback, my happiness comes from the fact that I am safe in the knowledge that in buying from them I am not harming animals. Happy days. xx
Well done Urban Decay, it’s fantastic to see a real ethical brand! Although it’s now concerning how many other beauty brands who do sell in china yet claim not to be tested on animals.
This is such a great blog, thanks for sharing!
http://www.permanentmakeupbymv.com
huh, maybe they saw a quick decline in sales and chose to listen to their profit line.
I love Urban Decay 🙂 Wonderful brand which highlights the fact that good quality make up does not have to be tested on animals. Mac should learn!