The Garnier company just responded to my email complaint regarding one of their recent culturally insensitive commercials.
**(Please note that the pictures are for imagery purposes only. They are not directly from the Garnier commercial).
I appreciate their quick response, but I just hope that they will actually take this serious and not just brush it off. Here is there response:
July 17, 2009
Dear Mrs. ........,
Thank you for letting us know how you feel about the commercial for our styling product. We truly apologize if it offended you and your family in any way.
The opinions of our consumers are important to us when making decisions about our products, services and advertising. We value you as a customer and will forward your comments to the appropriate individual in our company.
Sincerely,
Alice
Consumer Affairs Coordinator
Ref # 5170802
WTH? That was so quick and small! Hmph, I've yet to receive any mail from them. I do hope they take this seriously as well. Because its just not right. At least you spoke out Karen, thats all that matters!
ReplyDeleteloreal the company that owns garnier was recently found guilty by the courts of discrimination. i don't recall the country i believe they're based in paris. so i will no longer purchase any of they're products, and loreal has quite a few lines that they are responsible for, such as mizani, and john frieda.
ReplyDeleteWOW!
ReplyDeleteWow I never seen the commercial. Disturbing. They probably have been getting a lot of emails for this and have a generic reply. SMH. Hopefully they are pulling the add. How could they have not seen something wrong with this?
ReplyDeleteI hope they really forward it to someone who will deal with it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should form an online protest.. get people to sign up etc...
@Anonymous
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, it was Paris...their corporate office for not hiring blacks, asians, and east indians to work for their sales team. I use to be a fan of L'Oreal mascar...wore them for over a decade, but not anymore. Here is the article as reported in Essence magazine:
French cosmetics giant, L'Oreal, who has hired Beyonce and other African-American (Kerry Washington, etc) personalities to front their products is in hot water. It's ok for us to peddle their products but not ok for us to work behind the scenes. The highest court in France determined that executives at Garnier, L"Oreal's beauty products division, intentionally created an all-White sales teams to promote their shampoos throughout the country, according to TimesOnline.com. Blacks, Asian and Middle Eastern women were hardly ever considered for hostess positions.
In fact, a fax was issued into evidence that requested hostesses must be between 18-22 years old, wear a European size 38-42 and be BBR. Apparently, BBR stands for "bleu, blanc, rouge" or French for "blue, white, red" the colors of their French flag which is also code for white people. This ends a three-year legal battle for the L'Oreal bosses who apparently were "disappointed" by the court's decision. They will now have to pay 30,000 Euros in fines and another 30,000 in damages.-WLW
Thank you for the information SoulCry. I did hear about this briefly on the radio while I was driving, but did not hear it all in detail. I am glad this case was brought to the public. Abercrombie & Fitch had a similar way of running business. They only wanted attractive young white sales people on the floor. And minorities where only given jobs in the back room. I was a part of this lawsuit, because I wanted to interview for a saleperson job when I was younger. I had already had about 7 years of sales expereince at the time, when I applied. But was told that even though they were looking for a salesperson, I would only be able to work in the back of the store as a stock person. That I would not be allowed on the floor and would have to use a back entrance.
ReplyDelete"back enterance"!?! You're kidding me! Kudos for standing up to them and taking part in the lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteThe nerve.
Soulcry wrote what happens in France for racial minorties.
ReplyDeleteWe don't exist.