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Urban Decay and China - UPDATE



I have just read on The Greatest Guide To Living Cruelty Free that Urban Decay have amended their Urban Decay & China statement. The link on my original post, no longer directs you to the original full statement. I wanted to avoid posting the entire statement, however I feel that it is important to share the info now that it has been altered. Something isn't quite right here... Urban Decay cannot have published the original statement without great thought, this is very odd... Keep your eyes peeled!


Here is the amended statement:

URBAN DECAY & CHINA

Urban Decay is planning to sell our products in China.

If you have any questions, our customer service team is available to you: info@urbandecay.com

For Urban Decay fans interested, founding partner Wende Zomnir will also host a live web chat in two weeks to answer your questions. Please click here to be notified of the date and time of the chat.

Editors or advocacy groups interested in interviews may contact us at publicrelations@urbandecay.com

Here is the original statement:

Urban Decay is going to sell our products in China. Because of China’s policies on animal testing, we know that this will not be a popular decision with some of our loyal customers. But the decision is a thoughtful one.

For 16 years, we have been committed to two key causes: women’s rights, and the fight against animal testing. Our dedication to those causes will not waver.

For those of you unfamiliar with China’s policies, the sticking point is this: the Chinese government reserves the right to conduct animal testing with cosmetic products before the products are approved for use by Chinese citizens. The government has not told us if they have exercised this right with our products. So, our brand does not test on animals, but the Chinese government might conduct a one-time test using our products. Do we like China’s policies? No…and that is really the point. Going into China was a huge decision for Urban Decay. But, we believe that change cannot and will not happen by outside pressure alone in a closed market. Change can only happen from within. When we enter the Chinese market, we will do our part to help make those changes.

When we were considering expanding into China, a group of marketing consultants told us to remove the section of our company history that describes our crusade against animal testing. “It doesn’t mean anything to the Chinese beauty customer,” they said. Of course, we refused. Our “no animal testing” policy is part of who we are, and has been since day one. The news that animal issues don’t even register with the average Chinese consumer was one of the biggest factors in our decision to go there. During Urban Decay’s infancy, we worked hard to inform consumers about animal rights in the United States and Europe. The battleground for animal rights is now in China, and we want to be there to encourage dialogue and provoke change.

We also hope to shed some light on women’s rights issues in China. As a company that caters to a female customer, this is extremely important to us. For one thing, going into China is a way for us to advance women into important professional positions. We will help grow the cosmetics industry, which primarily employs and creates career paths for women. Although workers’ employment rights are a relatively new concept there, progress has been made partially because of pressure from businesses, consumers, and advocacy groups from other countries. Based on this, our belief is that both an outside force and inside pressure for change can result in helping transform both the importance of women and animal testing policies in China. And more importantly, we hope to influence the perspective of the citizens on both of these issues.

If we don’t go to China, other companies without our beliefs will, and the culture will never change. We want to encourage a culture of consumers who care enough to buy cruelty-free products, and who view professional women as role models who influence their lives on a daily basis.

Yes, we are a for-profit company. And yes, we would eventually like to make money in China. But we don’t stand to turn a profit in China for quite a while, partially because the market isn’t quite ready to sustain an untraditional brand like ours. If it were only about the money, we would wait a few years. But our foray into this market is also about participating in an amazing time of change in China. We don’t like animal testing (and neither do the 13 dogs in our office), but we are trying to change the world… even if it is one eye shadow at a time! Sitting on the sidelines isn’t our style. We understand that you might not like our decision, but we hope you can respect it.

For any advocates or Urban Decay fans interested, Urban Decay founding partner Wende Zomnir will host a live chat on urbandecay.com to answer questions about our entry into China.

8 comments:

  1. wow, shocked. Im a fan of urban decay having quite a few of their products. I agree with you and probably a million others. NO ANIMAL TESTING. Please post more updates, interesting blog topic.

    mycrushcouture.blogspot.com - hopefully you can stop by :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will do my best to keep on top of this, but I really must get on with some reviews... Otherwise I'll just look like an activist, although I'm rather vocal & do feel strongly about it!

      I've stopped by your blog & I think it's great! x

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  2. lovely blog!

    lovely girl!

    hope you follow me! xxx

    http://lipglossandcandyfloss.blogspot.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much!

      I've checked out your blog & I look forward to reading more ^__^ xx

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  3. That would be fabulous! x

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tagged you in one of my posts, please take the time to check it out!

    http://missbitchxox.blogspot.ca/2012/06/liebster-blog-award.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. your blog is suuuper cute :)
    I love it!!

    http://bubblemylicorice.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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