ARE YOU A CRUELTY FREE BRAND? ... THE DUMBEST RESPONSES THAT I RECEIVED!

Today I wanted to share the dumbest answers, that I received from companies, when asked: "Are you a cruelty free brand?". I was attending earlier this year Cosmoprof in Las Vegas (read here and here about it!), and although I did my homework and research upfront, which brands are cruelty free and which ones are not- there were so many new companies, where I could not find any information online in regards, if they are cruelty free or not. So, let´s see the dumbest and most ridiculous responses that I received! ;-)

Also important to note: in most cases the founder or owner of the company was present at the booth at Cosmoprof. These answers are generally not from employees that don´t know their stuff. It is the response of the owner himself/herself!

So, in many cases the response that I received to the question: "Are you a cruelty free brand?" was: 

"What is that?"

LOL! Really? This happened to me more than 10x- so often in fact, that I got sick myself of asking this question. Again: in many cases this is the founder of the brand that I asked personally. They want to be a successful beauty brand and don´t even have a clue, what "cruelty free" means! I couldn´t believe this...

At the booth of Agadir I spoke to a pretty girl, who was handing out samples, and asked her the same question. She did not know the answer and asked her boss- again: one of the founders of the brand. He came to me and said also: 

"What is that?"

So, I tried to explain, that it means that his products weren´t tested on animals and he answered then: 

"Oh yeah, yeah ... of course we are vegan!" 

and he showed me then one of his "self-made" bunny logos (only the Leaping Bunny logo and the PETA bunny logo are official cruelty free logos!)... oh geez... you have to know: anybody can print a bunny on their product, but this does not mean that this is official and true. I tried to explain to him, that he could contact the Leaping Bunny and get the official logo, but he did not really care for that. I also tried to explain to him, that vegan and cruelty-free are 2 different things. But he was not very patient with me! ;-)

left: Leaping Bunny logo right: PETA logo

But that he said that Agadir is "vegan" to my question, showed me again that he did not connect the dots correctly. Vegan means that no animal by-product was used. Cruelty free means that the product was not tested on animals. (Read more here about the difference of vegan and cruelty free)

I tried to explain that to him, but he was clearly overwhelmed by me. He called another young girl and referred to her as being vegan and being their "blogger". Hm. I thanked him and went off. Difficult to trust a company with a founder that has no clue about nothing. I can´t tell to this day, if they are cruelty free or not- hell, he can´t tell himself. LOL!

But the tip of the iceberg was, when I approached Fillerina, a brand I was super excited to meet with (cause their kit sounded like a little magic against wrinkles!)- but I needed to make sure, that they are cruelty free. Yada yada, I approach them as a blogger and first I get a friendly smile. Then I asked the dreaded question: "Are you a cruelty free brand?". The guy I was talking to had no clue and so he asked a women behind him. 

She approached me and asked back: 

"What does that mean?"

I again (for the 50th time that day lol) explained that it means that their products were not tested on animals. She said: 

"I don´t know. It does not matter. We are only the distributor of Fillerina for the U.S. market." 

I said that it matters for me though! She got REALLY angry and her face slipped into something really mad looking AND SHE WENT OFF TO SIT ON A SOFA FURTHER AWAY FROM ME and she said: 

"Why would it matter anyway?"

I told her, while trying to keep it friendly, that I (and many other consumers) care about animals and don´t want them to get hurt for cosmetic. She insisted again: 

"It does not matter! We only distribute Fillerina in the U.S. and have nothing to do with what happens in Europe or the rest of the world". 

I then asked if Fillerina was sold in China (since China requires animal testing for cosmetics by law) and she did not know and almost screamed: 

"We are not in China though!"

I really tried to keep it calm, but by now, I am sure my smile was kinda frozen too.

I told her: "I don´t care where in the world the animal was harmed, if the product Fillerina was tested in China, or somewhere else, I don´t support a company that tests on animals- no matter where in the world!".

She clearly, absolutely did not understand my point of view. Out of her perspective all she was doing is, trying to sell Fillerina to the U.S. market- and it did not matter ,what other factors weigh in or what happens in other countries- because at the end SHE did not hurt an animal, right? 

OMG. So, I asked for a contact from someone that maybe had a clue to my questions and received a tiny foil sample of a Fillerina moisturizer with the email of the US distributor on the back that I should contact...

Thanks but no thanks. I could not believe, how unfriendly this women was to me. 

Geez! I was really excited to meet this brand, because the products sound super promising, but I was really torn off, on how unprofessional they handled the situation. You can always stay friendly, right? 

But to the question, if Fillerina is cruelty free: I still don´t have the answer! LOL!

Ever gotten a weird response when you asked a company if they are cruelty free?