**UPDATE**
Since writing the below Urban Decay have reversed their decision to enter the Chinese market and their products will no longer need to be tested on animals and the brand has been re-listed on the Leaping Bunny register of cruelty free companies. It is therefore possible that although I have not purchased any new Urban Decay products since their first announcement in June I may buy or feature Urban Decay products on my blog in future. I have decided this as I think it’s important to incentivise brands to listen to their consumers as Urban Decay on this occasion have. I have however decided to leave this post up for historical reasons.
ORIGINAL POST
This is quite a special post for my blog as I’ve never written a post like this before and in all honesty I hope I never have to write one again. It was with great shock and disappointment that I discovered last week that Urban Decay have decided to submit their products to be tested on animals by the Chinese government in order to receive approval to sell to the Chinese market. There were further details made available at the time of the announcement in the form of a press release from Urban Decay posted on their website, but following hundreds of complaints regarding the patronising and hypocritcal tone adopted it was removed from their site within 24 hours.
This is not a cruelty free blog, nor can I make any claim to be a cruelty free shopper. However, “cruelty free” was the core principal that Urban Decay built their brand on, and it was always a great comfort for me to know that Urban Decay staunchly opposed animal testing and that by paying the high price point for their products I was guaranteed guilt free shopping. Every box of Urban Decay cosmetics I ever purchased showed the motto, “We don’t test on animals. How could anybody?” Well, I guess now that Urban Decay have turned their back on cruelty free they know the answer to that question better than any of us.
Actually thinking about the fact that they are willingly and eagerly submitting their products to be tested on animals makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed, bordering on the physically sick. I was also confused and angry about the tired, lazy stereotypes the brand kept making regarding their hitherto loyal fans and neo-colonialist attitude towards their new target market of China. Urban Decay has been my favourite brand of make-up for as long as I’ve been buying it, and that they would so easily give up their cruelty free status and insult and upset their loyal fans by their announcement and handling of the aftermath were actions that were totally impossible to reconcile with the brand I had known and loved for so long.
It is for these reasons that I have decided to not only never purchase another Urban Decay product again, but also to remove all posts solely featuring Urban Decay products. I had considered leaving them on the blog for historical reasons but I’m afraid I don’t want to encourage anybody else to make any purchases from this brand either. I would hate to think that a review or pictures on my blog had influenced somebody to purchase some Urban Decay products from this day forward. I will also be removing the tag “Urban Decay” from the blog entirely except from this post and will try my best to remove any mention of the brand in other posts, although this may not be entirely possible given that I’m just one person who doesn’t ever get around to spending as much time on my blog as I would like to.
As a consumer pretty much the only power that I have to influence is with my money and how I spend it, and from now on I can promise not one penny of my money is going to Urban Decay.
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