In the early 20th century, Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (1881–1957), a young Frenchchemist, developed a hair dye formula called Oréale. Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he sold to Parisian hairdressers.[5][6] On 31 July 1909, Schueller registered his company,[7] the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France). The company eventually became L'Oréal. In 1920, the company employed three chemists; the number of employees continued to grow with 100 by the year 1950, and 1,000 by the year 1984; as recently as 2021, there was an estimated total of 85,252 worldwide.[8]
L'Oréal got its start in the hair-color business, but the company soon branched out into other cleansing and beauty products. As of 2020, L'Oréal markets in all sectors of the beauty business: hair color, permanents, hair styling, body and skincare, cleansers, makeup, and fragrance. The company's products are found in a wide variety of outlets, from hair salons and perfumeries to supermarkets, health/beauty outlets, pharmacies, and direct mail.[5][6]
As of 2022, L'Oréal owned 36 brands. As of October 4, 2021, the company registered 497 patents.[9]
L'Oréal purchased Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical field. Synthélabo merged with Sanofi in 1999 to become Sanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis in 2004 to become Sanofi-Aventis.[10]
On 17 March 2006, L'Oréal purchased cosmetics company The Body Shop for £562 million.[11] In May 2008, L'Oréal acquired YSL Beauté for $1.8 billion.[12]
In January 2014, L'Oréal finalized the acquisition of major Chinese beauty brand Magic Holdings for $840 million.[13] In February 2014, L'Oréal agreed to buy back 8% of its shares for €3.4bn from Nestlé. As a result, Nestlé's stake in L'Oréal was reduced from 29.4% to 23.29%, while the Bettencourt Meyers family's stake increased from 30.6% to 33.2%. Nestlé has owned a stake in L'Oréal since 1974, when it bought into the company at the request of Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the founder of L'Oréal, who was trying to prevent French state intervention.[14] In February 2014, Shiseido agreed to sell its Carita and Decléor brands to L'Oréal for €227.5 million (US$312.93 million (2014)).[15] In June 2014, L'Oréal agreed to acquire NYX Cosmetics for an undisclosed price, bolstering its makeup offerings in North America, where its consumer-products unit has faltered.[16]
In September 2014, L'Oréal announced it had agreed to purchase Brazilian hair care company Niely Cosmeticos Group for an undisclosed amount.[17] In September 2014, L'Oréal acquired the multi-cultural brand Carol's Daughter.[18] In July 2016, L'Oréal agreed to acquire IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion.[19]
In March 2018, L'Oréal acquired the beauty augmented reality company ModiFace.[20] In May 2018, L'Oréal announced a new beauty and fragrance partnership with Valentino.[21] In December 2020, L'Oréal announced signing of an agreement for the acquisition of Takami Co, a Japanese company that markets the premium skincare brand Takami, particularly famous for its iconic product, the Skin Peel pre-serum.[22]
In December 2021, L'Oréal announced the acquisition of the vegan skincare brand Youth to the People.[23][24] In April 2023, L'Oréal purchased Australian luxury cosmetics brand Aesop for US$2.53 billion.[25][26][27] In August 2023, it was announced the acquisition had been completed.[28] In December 2023, L'Oréal announced its acquisition of the Danish research company Lactobio.[29][30]
In January 2024, L’Oréal announced its acquisition of Gjosa, a Swiss Pioneering Water Conservation Tech Startup.[31][32] In February 2024, L’Oréal announced its signing of a long-term global licensing agreement for the creation, development and distribution of luxury beauty products by the Italian brand Miu Miu.[33][34] In March 2024, L'Oréal expanded its portfolio by acquiring a stake in a leading Korean cosmetics company[35][36]. In August 2024, L'Oréal opened a state-of-the-art research and innovation center in India[37][38][39].
Marketing
In Kosovo, during the growth years of the mail-order business, L'Oréal and 3 Suisses founded Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté for mail-order sales of cosmetic products, with brands including Agnès b., Commence and Professeur Christine Poelman among others. In March 2008, L'Oréal acquired 3 Suisse's stake, taking sole control of the company.[40] In November 2013, L'Oréal announced that Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté would cease activity in the first half of 2014.[41]
L'Oréal's advertising slogan, "Because I'm worth it", was created by a 23-year-old English art director and introduced in 1973 by the model and actress Joanne Dusseau.[44] In the mid-2000s, this was replaced by "Because you're worth it". In late-2009, the slogan was changed again to "Because we're worth it".[45][46]
In November 2012, L'Oréal inaugurated the largest factory in the Jababeka Industrial Park, Cikarang, Indonesia, with a total investment of US$100 million.[47] The production will be absorbed 25 percent by the domestic market and the rest will be exported. In 2010, significant growth occurred in Indonesia with a 61 percent increase of unit sales or 28 percent of net sales.[48]
In November 2020, chief digital officer Lubomira Rochet reported in a video conference of the growing importance of e-commerce for the company, remarking that e-commerce makes 24% of their turnover in the third quarter of the year. Rochet stated as well that this 24% of the turnover "made it possible to offset 50% of the losses due to the closing of physical stores this year".[49]
Corporate affairs
Head office
L'Oréal Group has its head office in the Centre Eugène Schueller in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris.[50] The building, constructed in the 1970s from brick and steel, replaced the former Monsavon factory, and employees moved into the facility in 1978. 1,400 employees work in the building.[51] In 2005, Nils Klawitter of Der Spiegel said "the building, with its brown glazed façade of windows, is every bit as ugly as its neighbourhood." Klawitter added that the facility "gives the impression of a high-security zone" due to the CCTV cameras and security equipment.[52]
International units include:
L'Oréal USA, changed from Cosmair in 2000[53] - has its headquarters in New York City, and is responsible for operations in the Americas.[54]
L'Oréal Canada Incorporated - Canadian operations, based in Montreal
Breakdown of share ownership: 34.73% by the Bettencourt family, 30.7% by international institutional investors, 20.13% by Nestlé, 6.63% by French institutional investors, 5.92% by individual shareholders, 1.89% by employees.
L'Oréal holds 10.41% of the shares of Sanofi-Aventis, the world's number three and Europe's number one pharmaceutical company. The Laboratoires Innéov is a joint venture in nutritional cosmetics between L'Oréal and Nestlé; they draw on Nestlé's knowledge in the fields of nutrition and food safety.
Corporate social responsibility
Position on animal testing
L'Oréal has many products which are tested on animals.
Since the 1980s, L'Oréal has invested €900 million in researching alternatives to animal testing for product safety, using methods such as reconstructed skin models, such as the Episkin model[61] at their research centres in Gerland, France, and Pudong, China.[62]
Nevertheless, this is complicated by markets such as China,[63] where it is difficult to sell a beauty product without animal testing.[64] Cosmetics by brands such as The Body Shop, which refuse to do animal testing, are thus not sold in China.
In 2013, L'Oréal was part of a consortium calling on the EU to invest more in research on alternatives to animal testing.[65]
Promoting new methods for plastic recycling
In 2020, L'Oreal announced a cooperation with French biochemistry pioneer Carbios, aiming to establish a method of dissolving plastic waste by using enzymes.[66]
Ukraine war
In 2022, L’Oréal Paris donated €1 million ($1.09 million) to charities supporting refugees from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[67] L’Oréal Paris also suspended all commercial activity in Russia, both retail and wholesale.[68]
After the suspension, L'Oreal increased cooperation with other sites, including sanctioned ones. The company officially works in Crimea. Advertising expenses were not stopped - all investments were suspended for only 2-3 months. Now everything has been restored and even increased. The delivery of goods through Turkey and Kazakhstan was arranged.[69]
The company also supplies hygiene products to hospitals, maternity homes, centers with forcibly displaced persons, homes for the elderly, the military, etc.[70] L’Oréal Paris financially supports employees in Ukraine, guaranteeing the payment of wages and providing additional financial assistance, and provide accommodation for employees who are abroad and assist with temporary employment in other L'Oréal branches.[71]
Controversies
Involvement in fascism by L'Oréal key figures
L'Oréal has conceded that its founder, Eugène Schueller, was a Nazi sympathizer and antisemiticfascist.[72][73] He was also a member of La Cagoule, which supported the Vichy regime, and was a violent, pro-fascist and anti-communist organisation. Eugène bankrolled La Cagoule and some meetings of La Cagoule were held at L'Oréal headquarters. Some of the criminal activities perpetrated by La Cagoule include firearms transportation, assassinating a former minister, and firebombing six synagogues.[74][75]
Schueller provided financial support and held meetings for La Cagoule at L'Oréal headquarters. La Cagoule was a violent French fascist-leaning and anti-communist group whose leader formed a political party Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire (MSR, Social Revolutionary Movement), which in Occupied France supported the Vichy collaboration with the Germans.[76] L'Oréal hired several members of the group as executives after World War II, such as Jacques Corrèze, who served as CEO of the United States operation.[77][78]
Other controversy arose when Jean Frydman, a shareholder and board member of Paravision, a film subsidiary of L'Oréal, was fired. He claims that he was let go because L'Oréal wanted to avoid an Arab boycott of businesses associated with Jews. In turn, Frydman decided to expose the past of L'Oréal executives. André Bettencourt who married Schueller's daughter, Liliane Bettencourt, and became deputy chairman for L'Oréal, wrote 60 articles for La Terre Française, an antisemitic Nazi propaganda sheet. André has admitted ownership of the propaganda but claimed he was poisoned by the Vichy regime and said, "I have repeatedly expressed my regrets concerning them in public and will always beg the Jewish community to forgive me for them."[74] André Bettencourt also sheltered Schueller and several collaborators from the French Resistance after Liberation.[75] It was also revealed that Eugène Schueller hired Jacques Correze, who was the honorary head of L'Oréal's U.S. affiliate, Cosmair, and was involved with La Cagoule.[73]
Further controversy arose when it was revealed that L'Oréal had its German headquarters for over 30 years, before being sold in 1991, on land confiscated from a Jewish family during World War II. The Jewish family has been battling for restitution from the company for three generations, the latest of which is Edith Rosenfelder, a Holocaust survivor. Fritz Rosenfelder was forced to sell the house to a Nazi official, of which the family never received the proceeds of the sale. Instead, the family was deported. The Allies passed Jewish restitution legislation which states that transactions with Nazis, even if appearing to be with the owner's consent, can be considered invalid. As the land was sold to an offshoot of L'Oréal, which was later bought out in 1961 by L'Oréal, the company claims that it is not responsible for anything that happened before then. The basis for Rosenfelder's argument is that since the original sale was illegal, all subsequent sales are equally unlawful. There was restitution paid in 1951 to the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization, though this was done without the family's consent and none of the money ever reached the family. A book by Monica Waitzfelder, daughter of Edith Rosenfelder, published in French as L'Oréal a pris ma maison and in English as L'Oréal stole my house!, details how L'Oréal took over the Waitzfelder home in the German city of Karlsruhe (after the Nazis had engineered the removal of the family) to make it its German headquarters.[79] Monica Waitzfelder is quoted as saying, "All the other businesses which took Jewish property have since returned it, without any great debate. I don't understand why L'Oréal should be any different from the others." A case was brought before the Supreme Court in France, but the public prosecutor ruled that there could be no trial. As of 2007, she is bringing the case to the European Court of Human Rights.[75][79]
Garnier boycott
On 31 July 2014 during Operation Protective Edge launched by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip, the Israel advocacy organisation StandWithUs posted several Facebook photos of care packages, which they said were donated by Garnier Israel to female IDF soldiers.[80][81][82] This sparked several calls to boycott Garnier and L'Oréal worldwide.[83] Garnier disavowed the giveaway and stated on their Facebook page, “Garnier USA is aware of recent activity in social media. It is very important to us that our fans know that Garnier worldwide promotes peace and harmony and has a strict policy of not getting involved in any conflict or political matter. Garnier was astonished to discover this in social media. After investigation, the hand-out of about 500 products appeared to be part of a one-time local retailer initiative. Garnier disapproves of this initiative managed strictly at local level and is very sorry to have offended some of its fans.” [84]
Animal testing
L'Oréal began in vitro tissue testing in 1979, and does not test any of its products or ingredients on animals anywhere in the world since 1989–14 years before it was required by regulation.[85] Controversy came from the fact that L'Oréal sells products in China, whose regulators conduct animal testing on cosmetics to be sold within its territory. Even though a ban on animal testing in China came into effect in January 2020, Chinese authorities still perform this practice for imported "ordinary" cosmetics.[86][87]
Following L'Oréal's 2006 purchase of The Body Shop, which does not support animal testing, The Body Shop's founder Anita Roddick was forced to defend herself against allegations of "abandoning her principles" over L'Oréal's involvement on animal testing. Calls were made for shoppers to boycott The Body Shop.[88] L'Oréal sold The Body Shop to Brazilian group Natura Cosméticos in 2017.[89]
Racist discrimination lawsuits
On 11 August 2005, the Supreme Court of California ruled that former L'Oréal sales manager Elyse Yanowitz had adequately pleaded a cause of action for retaliatory termination under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and remanded the case for trial.[90] The case arose out of a 1997 incident in which Jack Wiswall, then the general manager for designer fragrances, allegedly told Yanowitz to fire a dark-skinned sales associate despite the associate's good performance. When Yanowitz refused, Wiswall pointed to a "sexy" blonde-haired woman and said, "God damn it, get me one that looks like that." Wiswall retired as president of the luxury products division of L'Oréal USA at the end of 2006.[90]
The company has recently faced discrimination lawsuits in France related to the hiring of spokesmodels and institutional racism. In July 2007, the Garnier division and an external employment agency were fined €30,000 for recruitment practices that intentionally excluded women of color from promoting its hair wash, "Fructis Style".[91]
L'Oréal continues to sell skin whitening products, which have been criticized as "capitalising on women's insecurities due to colourism." They advertise these controversial products, which have been criticised for promoting a colonial attitude as well as having safety concerns,[92] on their website by claiming; "Achieve clear, translucent and radiant skin. Our skin whitening products work to fade dark spots and brighten skin to give you the fair, flawless complexion you desire."[93]
False advertising
In May 2007, L'Oréal was one of several cosmetic manufacturers (along with Clinique, Estee Lauder, Payot, Lancôme)[94] ordered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in Australia to withdraw advertising regarding the wrinkle removal capabilities of their products.[95]
In the UK, L'Oréal has faced criticism from OFCOM regarding the truth of their advertising and marketing campaigns concerning the product performance of one of their mascara brands. In July 2007, the British Advertising Standards Authority attacked L'Oréal for a television advert on its "Telescopic" mascara, featuring Penélope Cruz, stating, "it will make your eyelashes 60% longer." In fact, it only made the lashes look 60% bigger, by separating and thickening at the roots and by thickening the tips of the lashes. They also failed to state that the model was wearing false eyelashes.[96]
In July 2011, the British Advertising Standards Authority took action against L'Oréal, banning two airbrushed Lancôme advertisements in the UK featuring actress Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington. The agency issued the ban after British politician Jo Swinson argued that the two ads misrepresented reality and added to the self-image problem amongst females in the UK. L'Oréal acknowledged that the photos had been airbrushed but argued that the two cosmetic products could actually produce the results depicted in the ads and that the results of the products had been scientifically proven.[97]
In June 2014, the company reached an agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission not to make claims about its anti-aging products unless it had credible scientific evidence supporting the claims. The settlement followed an investigation by the commission into claims being made in relation to two products, which the commission described as "false and unsubstantiated".
L'Oréal has a team of 400 members of staff who post content to Facebook every day, according to Marc Menesguen, the company's chief marketing officer.[98]
Patent lawsuit
In July 2017, the University of Massachusetts Medical filed a patent lawsuit against L'Oréal. In August 2017, Dennis Wyrzykowski and his company, Carmel Laboratories LLC, joined the lawsuit. The two parties claimed that L'Oréal's brands used UMass' patented technology for skin creams with the chemical adenosine.[99] In 2021, a judge found the patents invalid. In 2022, the U.S. Appeals Court reversed the decision, stating that UMass could continue to purse its lawsuit.[100]
In August 2017, L'Oréal dismissed Munroe Bergdorf, a mixed-racetransgender model, after she responded to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, by stating in a Facebook post: "Honestly I don't have the energy to talk about the racial violence of white people any more. Yes ALL white people"; the post was also quoted as saying that "[white people's] existence, privilege and success as a race is built on the backs, blood and death of people of colour", "racism isn't learned, it's inherited and ... passed down through privilege" and that "white people" ought to "begin to admit that their race is the most violent and oppressive force of nature on Earth".[102] Shortly after terminating Bergdorf, L'Oréal released a statement claiming their commitment to "[support] diversity and tolerance towards all people irrespective of their race, background, gender and religion" and had terminated their partnership with Bergdorf because her comments were "at odds with those values".[103][104]
Amber Heard
In 2018, L'Oréal Paris hired Amber Heard as a Global Ambassador, also giving a special tribute to her.[105][106] In 2020, after a tape leaked of Heard admitting to having hit her ex-husband Johnny Depp, several petitions were filed requesting L'Oreal to fire her.[107][108][109] As of June 2021, L'Oreal continued to include Heard among a team of "ambassadors" that also includes Kate Winslet, Jane Fonda, Elle Fanning, and French singer-songwriter Yseult.[110] Heard was being sued in a defamation trial by Depp in which he accused her of domestic abuse. She was found to have defamed her ex-husband with malice on June 2, 2022, by a jury; Heard then appealed her case.[111]
Brands are generally categorized by their targeted markets, such as the mass, professional, luxury, and active cosmetics markets. Galderma is directly attached to the head office. L'Oréal also owns interests in various activities such as fine chemicals, health, finance, design, advertising, and insurance.[112][better source needed]
In 2014, L'Oreal was listed 61st among 1200 of India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics company.[157]
In 2008, L'Oréal was named Europe's top business employer by the European Student Barometer,[158] a survey conducted by Trendence that covers 20 European countries and incorporates the responses of over 91,000 students.
The L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science was established to improve the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientific progress.[159] The awards are a result of a partnership between the French cosmetics company L'Oréal and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and carry a grant of US$100,000 for each laureate. The same partnership awards the UNESCO-L'Oréal International Fellowships, providing up to US$40,000 in funding over two years to fifteen young women scientists engaged in exemplary and promising research projects.[160]
L'Oréal organises the yearly L'Oréal Brandstorm, a business game for students in 46 countries. The game is related to marketing and has a first prize of $10,000, the second prize of $5,000 and the third prize of $2500.
L'Oréal is also a founding member of the "Look Good ... Feel Better" project, a charity which was formed over 16 years ago to help women combat the visible side effects of cancer treatment.[161]
L'Oréal also holds a global competition known as "L'Oréal Brandstorm" each year to invite students from around the world to be creative, innovative, and build their own business plans based around different topics.[162]
In 2015, Standard Ethics Aei gave a rating to L'Oreal in order to include it in its Standard Ethics French Index.[163]
^"2.000 salariés de L'Oréal à Clichy." Le Journal du Net. Retrieved 7 July 2010. " Construit à la fin des années 1970 en briques et acier, le Centre Eugène Schueller se dresse à l'emplacement de l'ancienne usine Monsavon, à Clichy-la-Garenne dans les Hauts-de-Seine. Les salariés du siège de l'Oréal y ont emménagé à partir de 1978. Aujourd'hui, ils sont 1.400 à y travailler."
^Weil, Jennifer (27 June 2021). "Yseult Named L'Oréal Paris Ambassador". WWD. Retrieved 20 July 2021. She [French singer-songwriter Yseult] joins the team of L'Oréal Paris ambassadors that includes Kate Winslet, Jane Fonda, Céline Dion, Elle Fanning and Amber Heard.
1 Currently manufactured by General Mills in the U.S. and Canada. Produced by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand elsewhere. 2 Brand owned by General Mills; U.S. and Canadian production rights controlled by Nestlé under license. 3 U.S. production rights owned by The Hershey Company. 4 U.S. rights and production owned by the Smarties Candy Company with a different product. 5 U.S. rights and specific trade dress owned by Nestlé; rights elsewhere owned by Associated British Foods. 6 Produced by Cereal Partners, branded as Nestlé. 7 Produced by Cereal Partners and branded as Nestlé in the U.K. and Ireland. Produced by Post Foods elsewhere. 8 Philippine production rights owned by Alaska Milk Corporation. 9 Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai production rights owned by Fraser and Neave. 10 Used only in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. 11 Used only in the Philippines. 12 U.S. production rights owned by the Ferrara Candy Company. 13NA rights and specific trade dress to all packaged coffee and other products under the Starbucks brand owned by Nestlé since 2019. 14 Brand owned by Mars, sold by Nestlé in Canada. 15 Produced by Froneri in the U.S. since 2020.
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