L’Oreal is one of the top cosmetics companies in the world. The French company owns a wide range of brands — Shue Uemura, Maybelline, Lancome, Kiehl’s and Garnier. L’Oreal is a big player in the cosmetics industry so it goes without saying anything it does will be closely scrutinized. And, let’s face it, in a business as shallow as beauty, you’d think it will be easy to avoid certain pitfalls. Unfortunately, the guys at L’Oreal are too engrossed on what they consider as “beauty” that they don’t even realize these pitfalls even if it’s already staring them in the face.
Just recently, L’Oreal was found guilty of racial discrimination by the French Supreme Court. The conviction stems from the company’s policy that Garnier sales staff should be “bleu, blanc, rouge” — the colors of the French flag but also the company’s code for white French people. What were they thinking? That people won’t likely buy lipstick from a person who’s not white? It’s just stupid beyond words. How can they even think their bottomline can be affected by the ethnicity of the sale staff. I want to buy hairgel, I won’t care if the salesperson’s from Mars, okay, I probably would, but only in so much as I’d want to strike up a conversation with a person from another planet.
In this day and age, it’s quite shocking that a company as progressive as L’Oreal would still propagate discrimination. It just reeks of bad taste offensiveness. I mean, the French has been described as rude and aloof but, I don’t believe they’re racist. L’Oreal is giving the French people a bad reputation.
Come on, L’Oreal guys! I think you know that beauty is not just skin deep. Merde!