People are more reluctant than ever to buy cosmetics that are tested on animals

Thanks to the internet, people are more informed about the animal testing side of cosmetics than ever. People all across the United States are opting to use cruelty-free cosmetics instead of cosmetics that have been tested on animals because of all the bad information on animal testing that is on the internet. As people become more aware of the cruelty that happens in the animal testing industry, they tend to opt against products that have been tested on animals.

Lush Cosmetics is a company based out of the United Kingdom that sells products for the whole body from head to toe. The company is growing at an all-time high, and a big part of the reason it is growing is that they are completely cruelty-free. People specifically go into Lush to get cruelty-free cosmetics. Due to this shift in consumer culture, more and more companies are being forced to adapt the practices of companies like Lush. Lots of companies around the world are promoting themselves on the fact that they are cruelty-free. Other companies that previously tested on animals are making the shift to cruelty-free.

According to a report by Market Research Future, the cruelty-free market is expected to grow by 6.1% over the years 2017-2023. Products that were once exclusively marketed to vegans – due to the lack of animal product – are now being marketed to everyone and they are thriving.

To get some more perspectives on the topic, I interviewed a couple of my coworkers at Lush Cosmetics. I talked to Chloe Beus to see how she feels about why the shift in the market is happening. Chloe feels that people are becoming more educated thanks to the internet. People can see videos on YouTube posted by PETA that show the horrors of what happens in farms that use animals for food, but they also post videos that depict the horrors of animal testing in cosmetics labs too. After people see these videos, there is an emotional reaction inside of them that makes them reluctant to purchase things that have caused suffering on animals. Lush has a viral video posted in which a human volunteer/performer positioned themselves in a store window front for an act. In the act, the performer is dressed in a nude bodysuit, appearing naked. There is another performer, which is a lab worker, and the point of the performance is to show people walking by the storefront what it looks like when animals are being used as test subjects in a lab – but on a real live human volunteer. Seeing these things happen to a human also triggers an emotional reaction, and causes people to question why these things are happening to this person. From there, Lush employees would talk to the people with questions and explain to them that the spectacle is to continue the fight against animal testing. Chloe also mentioned that as a Lush employee, she sees a lot of vegan or vegetarian customers come in the door specifically because they eat plant-based diets. They will initially come in, looking for vegan or vegetarian products, but then be informed of the horrors that animals actually go through when they choose to learn a little bit more about Lush. There are many reasons, both logical and emotional that people choose to buy cruelty-free products.

The picture above is a picture of the performance artist, Jacqueline Traide, 24, who did 10 hours of an extreme endurance performance in the window of Lush’s Regent Street shop in London. She was publicly tortured and caused crowds of people to gather to raise awareness about animal testing in the cosmetics industry.

I also spoke with Amy Jones, an ex-employee of Lush but an animal rights activist. She talked about reasons why people may choose to not seek out cruelty-free products. Amy said that before she used Lush products, she was completely unaware of the torture that animals go through for the sake of cosmetics.

The picture above is of a container from Bath & Body Works. It says NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS on it, which implies that it is a cruelty-free product. Consumers who are uneducated are often tricked by these labels, and think they are purchasing a product that is free of animal testing.

According to Amy, many companies, Bath & Body Works being one of them, label their products as not tested on animals – but – only the final product isn’t tested on animals. Every step of the process before the final product is tested on animals. For some of these companies, if they sell products in China, they are required to test on animals. A lot of these companies will say they don’t test on animals except for when required by law; because of this, Lush Cosmetics does not sell products in China.

The picture above shows bunnies detained in a cosmetics testing lab in China, getting ready to endure the torture of their lives.

A lot of people just don’t know what is going on, and most of the time people who purchase products that are tested on animals don’t understand the evils behind them.