According to the latest consumer study from America anyway…
Market Force Information, a market survey company, presented a selection of US consumers with the question what do you love most about your favourite makeup line and surprisingly only a small number of respondents selected the option of loving it because they use humane testing/environmentally safe.
I’m curious about this survey… it appears that it was a “tick the box that applies” affair rather than “provide your own answers in the space below”, but what if the respondent was unsure of whether their favourite brand tests humanely. That doesn’t really leave uses humane testing as a viable answer option regardless of their feelngs on animal testing. Survey fail?
I’m curious about how savvy people really are when it comes to humane testing and environmental issues – could you take a moment to answer my poll please?
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Are you aware of your favourite cosmetic brand's animal testing policy?
- Yes (58%, 90 Votes)
- No (42%, 66 Votes)
Total Voters: 156
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I have to remember that a lot of you guys are probably more makeup savvy than your ordinary consumer which may make a difference, but it’ll be interesting to see the results nonetheless!
Do you think that the original survey was wrong to draw the conclusion that humane testing isn’t an important consideration for US consumers?
Those results and answer options sound weird to me personally. I’d say “Trust the brand” should be the main category, others – subcategories. I wonder how many respondents there were? And where is the “Quality” and “Safety”? Do they mean we have to fully trust those massive campaigns with celebrities? Weird! :/ I’m against animal testing and toxic ingredients. I want to be sure that the products I use are safe for me, for the environment and for our future generations.
I’m quite shocked! Really!
Perhaps because so many companies are now cruelty free, due to consumer demand of this a few years ago, that we are now more relaxed about this issue. So it’s not that it’s not an important consideration, it’s just that we have suceeded in pursuading the majority of companies not to test on animals anymore.
It really frustrates me that products that use nearly all, if not all, the same ingredients as others, are STILL tested on animals…
Seriously, why oh why are they still testing shampoo on animals when it’s been around for so long and my eyes have never fallen out using one that’s not been tested on animals?!
Saying this, with shampoos I check, with make up, it never occurs to me to check if it’s been tested on animals.. Saying that I do have a vague knowledge of brands that do or don’t test on animals.
I’m not surprised, it’s not something you really think about when an exciting new lipstick launches from your favourite brand is it?
I’ve always been an animal lover, and despise the animal testing act with a passion BUT I never researched my makeup until recently and now I don’t use anything that isn’t cruelty free.
If the biggest brands in the world (MAC, Clinique, Clarins etc) don’t have to animal test, I don’t see why others do!
I voted No and now feel deeply ashamed. I thought all products had long since ceased to animal-test. Just an assumption I’d lazily made.
Who are the guilty ones? That’s not a rhetorical question btw. I honestly believed cosmetics companies had ceased to animal-test.
Isn’t there legislation against it? WHY isn’t there legislation against it? WHO the hell goes to work every day and drops shampoo into the eyes of animals for a living?
I think the problem is more with the question than anything else. It’s ‘what do you love most’ not, for example, ‘why do you love your favourite brand’. So people might like the fact that their favourite brand uses humane testing, but it might not be the thing they love most (which the question asked).[/Statistics Minor]
Personally, I’m not that suprised that people don’t know whether their favourite cosmetic companies test humanely or not. Unfortunately it just doesn’t occur to the majority of people. Since I am vegetarian I only use companies that I know don’t test on animals or that use chemicals that have been tested on animals in the past 10 years. It is shocking to discover how much is tested on animals, from makeup to haircare and even to toothpaste!
Thank you for this blogpost as it will hopefully bring the ethical factor of people’s beauty regimes to the forefront on their minds.
I think that survey is a bit misleading; just because someone may use a makeup brand that doesn’t test on animals doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the thing they love MOST about the brand. Personally I only use products that aren’t tested on animals, but if you were to ask me what I loved most about my makeup brands I’d probably say the quality, or the colour selection, even though it is very important to me that a product I use be cruelty free. So, I don’t think that study is very accurate in regards to whether Americans care about animal testing or not, even though I’m sure a shocking number of them still don’t.
@Jenni:
You’d be amazed which well-known and used brands test on animals! Cover Girl, Rimmel, L’Oreal, Benefit, Maybelline, Shisheido and so many more I won’t even look at because either I know they test, or they are evasive and vague whenever they are asked if they test or not.
On the other hand, there are so many awesome brands that are cruelty free, like MAC, Urban Decay, Physician’s Formula, Too faced, Bobbi Brown, OPI and heaps more!
I have no idea how someone can do that for a living! It’d be the same type of person who can work in a factory farm or a slaughterhouse, I imagine.
Surveys are designed to work in what ever way the person who commissioned them wants them to work. asking questions in a certain way forces the person answering to answer in a certain way.
BUAV have a very good list of companies that test on animals..or use ingredients tested on animals …or although say they dont test on animals, allow other companies to do it for them.
I try really hard to make sure my makeup is cruelty free and where I can, environmentally friendly. It’s quite difficult, and I admittedly have slipped up a few times. It’s difficult because some companies who claim are “cruelty free” are owned by big corporations that regularly test on animals.
That being said, this survey is a little misleading, because it asks what do you love MOST about your favorite brand. Some people do take cruelty into consideration, but perhaps not as much as other factors. Maybe.
I think it’s also hard to tell from that survey because it asks what your favourite thing about a brand. I try and only buy cruelty free brands so the fact that the brand is cruelty free wouldn’t be the best thing about them for me.
However if its a true reflection on US consumers feelings then it’s very depressing 🙁
Honestly, practically everything that we put on our faces has been tested on animals at some point in the process. It might be some minuscule item like a preservative but it’s still in there. I buy from pretty much every brand whether or not they specifically say they do or do not test on animals. Maybe that makes me your cruel typical American? I don’t know.
First, i have tp say that i love this blog, and i read it every nite.
Second, let me tell you that this results are not surprise to me. I worked during a couple of years in an international survey company called GFK, for their Chilean branch in an IT position (server programming) , and most of their work is to make this kind of surveys for big companies, before they make a big launch, or change their advertising concept or anything that implies a risk. There are marketing engineers and psychologists supervising the questions that will be made during this surveys, so if there’s any question that doesn’t fit and will make me get an unwanted result, it must be removed.
Besides, the “universe” of people who will be questionned was researched beforehand, data bases with customer information are very appreciated and worth several bucks (that’s why they ask for your name and phone number when you buy certain items, “customer care” they call it). For example, if L’Oreal (who’s quite well known for their animal testing) made this survey, they need people who they know as usual consumers of L’Oreal stuff (remember, Loreal owns almost every high street brand and several luxury ones), so it’s expectable to have “Trust the brand” as the most voted alternative and leave the “Environment safe” alternative at the end, get the point?
Even if the question is skewed, it’s sad to see that the environmental factor isn’t higher up on the list. I would definitely have clicked that option as first, for me it’s more important to know the company is not testing on animals than if I feel wonderful. I don’t feel wonderful knowing stuff I splatter on my face was rubbed on bunny eyes.
There is a comprehensive searchable website where you can check if companies test on animals or not at http://search.caringconsumer.com/ sponsored by PETA. I’m no crazy PETA lady but that site is handy.
I am ashamed to say that I am totally ignorant when it comes to animal testing. The thought of them using rats, cockroaches, spiders, and other vermins that the human spends its time fighting against and exterminating, for product testing would not prevent me from sleeping though 😛
I know the policies of my favorite brands, but I was recently surprised to learn that a popular drugstore brand (Sally Hansen) I buy still uses animal testing. It’s confusing, though – the website says they do NOT test on animals, but other wbesites say they do. So the consumer is also faced with discrepencies. misinformation, flat out lies, and other things we have to try to suss out and make decisions on. It’s very frustrating. I’m no PETA supporter, but I do avoid eating veal (which I used to love) and I try to avoid buying cosmetics/grooming items tested on animals. I wish it were easier for us to do the right thing. The choice is easy, but finding the right information to base it on is much harder.
It took reading blogs like OxfordJasmine’s for me to establish quite how many companies don’t test on animals but don’t make a big thing of it – until that point I’d just avoided almost everything! 🙁 I’m just glad to have found Barry M though, cruelty-free *and* good quality *and* a decent range of colours. I don’t harp on the animal testing issue in my blog apart from the odd passing reference, but hope it shows the range that is out there…