Comments on: Exit Strategy: Why Boycotting Brands Like Drunk Elephant Might Not Be A Solution

By: Jaret

Jaret — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 17:07:15 +0000

Thank you, “just some guy”. While I was happy to read Suzana’s point of view on this topic for me, money is money. I work hard for my money and L’Oreal does not buy a company to NOT make money off it – which means, bottom line, my money is going to L’Oreal (or any of the PRO cruelty companies)… and just the thought of that makes me ill. And I do understand being introduced to a larger market by selling – but that’s literally what it is: selling out. The selling out of your morals. And in this world it seems the list of people and companies with morals is quite slim to begin with. So for all the reasons you state, I too, will continue to support the smaller guys who retain their morals. Although its sad to ‘break up’ with a company and their products that I’ve loved when they sell out, at the end of the day my morals remain intact. And *that* helps me sleep soundly at night. And I don’t say all this to judge others – everyone is certainly free to decide where they draw the line. But for me personally, I’ve gotta keep supporting the animal-friendly folks. 😀

By: mollipop

mollipop — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 20:48:43 +0000

I think this is a thoughtful well-considered article. Ethical decision-making often traverses wide swaths of grey area and it’s important to consider other perspectives , whether we end up changing our position or not. Rigidity is sometimes warranted, but it’s not necessarily beneficial.

By: CrueltyFreeStats

CrueltyFreeStats — Sun, 30 Aug 2020 03:07:00 +0000

I disagree – These mega brands are simply heartlessly picking up market share. It is unlikely that a mega brand will ever fully convert to cruelty free simply because a small minority percentage (cruelty free and vegan buyers Are a statistical minority) wants their cruelty free option. It is more likely that a mega conglomerate will continue to use the money made from the ‘cruelty free brands’ in their portfolio to continue to animal test and engage in the same unethical practices for years, even decades or more to come. This is not really a question but a statistical probability due to the fact that vegans and cruelty free buyers are still a statistical minority by a long shot.. the math does Not support the likelihood of their conversion from a purely business perspective which is how they operate. Don’t get fooled by conglomerates. They Truly don’t care about animals. I will instead continue to support companies who do NOT sell out to parent companies who do horrible things Whenever possible.

By: just some guy

just some guy — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 21:57:41 +0000

I respectfully disagree that widening your definition of cruelty-free is a solution. You are nothing more than incremental revenue in a previously un- or under-served demographic to a company like Unilever. You are simply widening their customer base. Your support of a cruelty free product is _not_ inspiring them to not test on animals. I’d actually argue the other side of that, which is that if every big company saw an ethical brand acquisition’s sales plummet 90% because of a boycott, it sends a much stronger message that ethical consumers won’t fall for cheap marketing tricks, so they should either change or stop faking it by acquiring these companies. If a large company wanted to be more ethical, it’s actually really easy, you can just do it, instead of feeding gullible consumers lines like “moving towards a more sustainable future” or “working towards being cruelty free*** ***-except in china”. Furthermore, do you really, honestly, truly believe a company like Unilever wouldn’t encourage a brand like Schmidts to maybe use a little cheaper ingredient that had previously been tested on animals in another brand just to push margins? “Schmidts still doesn’t test on animals though” :eyeroll: These people aren’t moral. They don’t care about you and they don’t care about your ethics, unless by ethics you mean that green stuff in your wallet. I would have happily paid twice as much for my soap when I blissfully thought the person responsible for creating it shared my moral values, but I’ll have a tag on my toe before I willfully hand money to a company that’s going to use that money to continue to do awful things.

By: Suzana Rose

Suzana Rose — Sat, 09 May 2020 01:53:53 +0000

In reply to Suzanne. Thank you Suzanne!

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 22:38:53 +0000

Thank you for this article! It was well written and very eye-opening for me. I only buy cruelty free skin and makeup products. It bothers me how many companies are selling in China where it’s required to be tested on animals.