Cruelty Free Products in China – Ethics
This is an interesting article that is relevant to our upcoming class on business and ethics. It appears to be a trend for cosmetic companies to advertise themselves as animal cruelty free and organic. Here in North America it is very common and animal loving makeup users are putting it all over their faces. While most parts of the world embraces cruelty free products, China does not allow foreign cosmetics companies to avoid animal testing. When a cosmetics company enters the Chinese market, the company must test their products on animals to ensure the safety of the Chinese consumers. These companies are faced with the dilemma of forgoing the potential large Chinese market and upholding the company’s code of ethics or ruining their reputation. In a situation like such, what would you do as the CEO of a cruelty free cosmetic company? What should be the main concerns here? Attempting to maximize the company’s profit or staying true to the company’s fundamental beliefs? Through the article we come to realize that all of the companies have decided not to sell in China for one reason. It is too risky. In the long run, if a cosmetics company were to either rebrand themselves or choose to not follow their code of ethics, in which the company was built upon, they could possibly lose not only potential future consumers but loyal customers as well.
I firmly believe that a company should uphold their moral values and code of ethics. This is the only way companies can gain the valuable trust of the consumer and create room for brand loyalty. I feel that if the company must sacrifice a small amount of potential profit for the better of society and in turn, the better for the company’s reputation, then that must be the only reasonable choice. As a makeup-wearing consumer, I would find myself in an uncomfortable situation if I had read about a scandal involving animal testing on a makeup product that I happened to be using. I would most likely stop purchasing that brand, seeing as though there are many options for makeup and many substitutions that could easily take the place of a previous product.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesasia/2014/09/07/do-this-one-thing-before-doing-business-in-china/