Coty has announced a major step in its responsible growth journey with the formation of a strategic partnership with Cruelty Free International, an organization that aims to end animal testing for cosmetics globally. As part of the partnership, its color cosmetics brand, Covergirl, underwent a rigorous audit of its supply chain and ingredients and has become the largest makeup brand to achieve Leaping Bunny certification, an internationally-recognized gold standard for cruelty free designation. Coty hopes that by starting with its largest global makeup brand, it will be able to demonstrate the importance of this issue and prove that cruelty-free can be done on a global scale.
Camillo Pane, CEO of Coty, said, “Being cruelty free and achieving the Leaping Bunny certification for COVERGIRL is the right thing to do, at the right time, in the right way. Listening to our consumers, we started this journey with COVERGIRL to demonstrate our commitment to this issue by achieving such an ambitious certification at scale. This is consistent with our ambition of growing responsibly by championing open, inclusive and sustainable beauty.”
The company will begin raising awareness of the Covergirl’s cruelty free certification through a new national TV campaign, a full-page New York Times ad and signage in stores and on package using the CFI Leaping Bunny logo. Covergirl’s cruelty free certification comes on the heels of the brand’s biggest refresh in 60 years, which includes a new vision and tagline of I Am What I Make Up, which has allowed the brand to welcome its most diverse tribe of ambassadors to date. This year, the brand also launched a number of progressive innovations, including a new 40-shade foundation range and the its first flagship store, which is set to open in Times Square this fall. All of this is in line with the vision Coty set for Covergirl as part of a major merger with P&G Specialty Beauty in 2016. At the close of the deal, Coty put in place a new corporate purpose, challenging its portfolio of brands to reimagine the industry by putting purpose at their core.
As a result of Covergirl’s certification process, Coty is planning to leverage the knowledge it gained about global supply chain certification to help drive more responsible practices across its brand portfolio and the beauty industry. It is also committed to ensuring that at least one more of its brands will become certified through the Leaping Bunny program by 2020. Moreover, as a signal of its commitment to end to end unnecessary animal testing across the beauty industry, the company has committed itself to advocate for regulatory change, including in China, to find alternatives to current animal testing mandates.
Michelle Thew, CEO of Cruelty Free International, said: “We are delighted to partner with Coty to end cruel and unnecessary animal testing for cosmetics worldwide and have been impressed with the company’s passionate commitment. We hope today’s announcement encourages more cosmetics companies to do the right thing, listen to public demand and make a commitment to ending animal suffering in the cosmetics industry.”
