Deciem was founded in Toronto in 2013 by Brandon Truaxe, positioning itself as a challenger to traditional beauty marketing and pricing models. The company built its reputation on a science-led, ingredient-focused approach and grew rapidly with brands like The Ordinary and NIOD.
Estée Lauder first invested in Deciem in 2017 and acquired full ownership in 2021. While Deciem maintains its identity as a transparent and accessible beauty company, it now operates within a corporate structure tied to animal testing and political complicity. Estée Lauder sells products in markets such as mainland China, where animal testing remains a legal requirement.
Estée Lauder’s chairman, Ronald Lauder, is also president of the Jewish National Fund, which controls 13% of land in Israel and excludes Palestinians from leasing or purchasing it. The JNF has supported illegal settlement expansion and military-linked charities. Through this leadership connection, Deciem is implicated in broader political and ethical controversies beyond its own brand image.
Estée Lauder is rated High Impact because it concentrates cultural and financial power at a global scale while channelling wealth into one of the most entrenched institutions of Israeli apartheid. With Ronald Lauder at the helm of the Jewish National Fund, the company is directly bound to the mechanisms of land confiscation, settlement growth, and military-aligned infrastructure in Palestine.
The impact is structural: dozens of distinct brands—from mass-market staples like Clinique and Rimmel to luxury houses like La Mer and Tom Ford Beauty—all funnel revenue into the same corporate centre. Every purchase strengthens a conglomerate that not only profits from extractive and exploitative supply chains but also invests in political projects sustaining dispossession.
Where other beauty firms may be complicit through regulatory concessions such as animal testing in China, Estée Lauder stands out because its leadership transforms consumer spending into political capital for an apartheid regime. That combination of market dominance and direct political entanglement makes it one of the most urgent boycott targets in the sector.
The Inkey List