Aesop is an Australian skincare brand founded in 1987 and acquired by L’Oréal in 2023. It is known for its minimalist design, plant-based formulations, and association with “slow” luxury retail spaces. Despite its cultivated image of ethical and sustainable beauty, Aesop is fully integrated into L’Oréal’s corporate system.
As part of L’Oréal, Aesop profits from a parent company tied to child labour in Egyptian jasmine harvesting, toxic PFAS chemicals in cosmetics, and palm oil sourcing linked to deforestation. L’Oréal also continues to sell in markets like China that require animal testing, undermining Aesop’s ethical branding. Politically, Aesop’s revenues flow upward into a company with longstanding ties to Israel, including a factory in Migdal Ha’Emek on land seized from Palestinians and sponsorships of Israeli institutions connected to apartheid infrastructure.
L’Oréal’s harm profile spans environmental concerns (palm oil-linked deforestation, toxic chemical use), human rights issues in supply chains, and direct economic complicity in Israel’s occupation regime. While its Israeli factory is located inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders, it sits on land seized from Palestinians during the Nakba and produces goods using resources from occupied territory.
Corporate leadership has cultivated close political and trade ties with Israeli institutions, and its awards to scientists at boycott-targeted research centers deepen this alignment. These factors, combined with global market dominance, make L’Oréal a high-priority boycott target for those opposing corporate support of Israeli apartheid.
L’Oréal’s global reach amplifies the scale of these harms, making it a key boycott target.
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