In the byzantine business of international trade and geo political machinations, Maybelline – an octopus in the cosmetics world owned by L’Oréal – has run afoul of critics claiming it supports Israel.
The recent revelation of L’Oréal’s ties to Israel and Maybelline’s corresponding actions have raised suspicion and sparked grave fears over the brand’s ethical position during the increasingly volatile Israeli Palestine conflict.
Maybelline’s Role in Geopolitical Controversy
As part of the L’Oréal umbrella, Maybelline has been mired in a contentious affair with Israel. And there’s L’Oréal, described as a ‘stalwart ally of Israel,’ which was also lambasted for providing information supporting a boycott to the Arab League.
Not only did this move cost big penalties and require for Israel to be apologized to before being cosy with Israel, but this was followed by big investments including the setting up of a factory in the Occupied Palestine. The company’s actions stoked fervent calls for boycotting Maybelline products, against their sale, and even asking people to not associate with L’Oréal Groupe at all.
Maybelline’s Cryptic Silence
Meanwhile, Maybelline’s supposed social investments within Israel, like the rollout of its global initiative, ‘Brave Together,’ in partnership with ERAN, Israel’s acclaimed emotional support organization, has not stopped the brand from remaining strangely rather silent on controversial geopolitical issues.
And questions loom large as to what its implicit endorsement means, what its ethical position on Israel is, given L’Oréal’s own involvement in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.
As the reticence of Maybelline, a global behemoth peddling products in 129 plus countries to take a stand on Israel fuels consumers’ suspicion and compels them to inquire as to the morals of the beauty they are buying and the larger picture of what corporate complicity really looks like.
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Maybelline’s veiled complicity with the brand, a monopoly of L’Oréal, which is also a part of L’Oréal’s controversial relations with Israel, has also brought down its reputation. Indeed the mystery surrounding Maybelline’s loyalty and ethical association with Israel better makes clear the torturous interface of corporate accountability and ethical consumption in the cosmetics industry.
As social consciousness widens, so does Maybelline’s ambiguity in its geopolitical affiliations, and represents a paradigm shift in factors impacting consumer consumption at greatest moral expense to consider weighty geopolitical factors as no longer ‘merely a cosmetic issue’.