In 2006, Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, sold her company to the large French cosmetic enterprise called L’Oréal. What used to be a firm that was lauded for advocating animal rights is now being questioned of their corporate culture as L’Oréal’s business ethics operate on a different spectrum. By acquiring The Body Shop, L’Oréal wished for it to rebrand the firm socially and environmentally with The Body Shop’s cruelty-free image. (The Body Shop: Smart Move or Sell Out?) However, although L’Oréal claims to have stopped animal testing, its recent news and history of recurring animal tested products has left the public skeptical as to whether or not they’ve completely stopped their unethical practices. (Behind the Brand: L’Oreal) Not only has this sale affected L’Oreal, The Body Shop lost it’s popularity as well as it has abandoned it’s core values by gaining sales to fund an animal testing business. (The Body Shop popularity plunges after L’Oreal sale)

This main ethical issue is now that The Body Shop, once rated highly by global ethical rating group — Ethical Consumer, is owned by an unethical company, would the core values of The Body Shop’s be compromised? In addition, this controversial situation raises the question of whether the “no animal testing” label on any product (not only produced by L’Oréal but other animal rights advocating firms as well) is used simply just to window-dress their brand image just as L’Oréal had done?

In this case, L’Oréal’s false advertising of non-animal tested products may lead consumers to purchase their product without realizing their contribution in support of future animal tests. Undoubtedly, manipulating the consumers’ in gaining their trust is unethical and therefore, considered socially irresponsible by most.