Wikimedia Commons
A misleading video purportedly showing an abused monkey at a L’Oréal animal testing facility is not quite what it seems. The claim that a monkey was injured due to animal testing by L’Oréal is fake, however, the video does actually depict a monkey that was injured in India—completely unrelated to the French cosmetics company.
The video, which was posted to YouTube on Tuesday, claims to show a monkey that was abused during animal testing. It was originally shared by the Facebook page Animal Rights Warriors, along with an accompanying petition asking L’Oréal to stop testing on innocent animals. Both the Facebook post and petition have since been deleted.
Proving no evidence other than a vague video, the description said, “This is how L’oreal conducts testing of their products on animals” and thanked the Animal Rights Warriors for bringing the animal abuse to light. The animal is in no way related to L’Oréal, which the company was quick to point out.
L’Oréal disproved the video themselves in a comment on the video. “L’Oréal has nothing to do with these images/ videos and such practices,” the cosmetics company wrote, “The link between L’Oréal and this content is not true at all. Please don’t hesitate to warn others that it’s false. Check out our policy.”
Their policy states:
L’Oréal has developed a very rigorous safety evaluation procedure of its products, backed by Research. Well before the question of animal testing was raised by civil society or within a regulatory framework, L’Oréal has been committed to new methods of assessing safety that don’t involve animals. A true pioneer, L’Oréal has been reconstructing human skin models in laboratories to elaborate safety tests since 1979, as an alternative to animals. In 1989, L’Oréal completely ceased testing its products on animals, thus 14 years before the regulation required so. Since 2013, L’Oréal has completely stopped testing ingredients on animals.
The monkey in the video was not actually abused by L’Oréal—the company has not tested their products on animals since 1989. The exception, according to their policy, is testing certain products or ingredients on animals in China due to China’s Food and Drug Administration regulations. Certain cosmetic animal testing has since changed.
Snopes reports that, in reality, the video depicts a monkey that was severely injured due to electrocution. The 6-year-old monkey, named Fighter, was rescued after being electrocuted by a high-voltage tower in Mumbai, India. An update posted in February indicated that Fighter was ready to be released back into the wild one month after being rescued.
Pawan Sharma
Despite the video not showing any abuse by L’Oréal, many on social media were still misled. L’Oréal responded to many who shared the video, reiterating that there was no link between the video and their company.
Social Media Shares Misleading Video of Injured Monkey
I have never been so disgusted in my life. @LOrealParisUSA @Loreal @LOrealUSA #boycottloreal #endanimaltestinghttps://t.co/TSy2klFnlh
— bri (@briyaanuh) March 16, 2017
#Loreal exists for objectifying women. I guess we should not be surprised it objectifies animals. https://t.co/kaoeNZV1f6
— Abhinay Ⓥ (@AbhinayDro) March 15, 2017
This is absolutely horrible
L'oreal abusing monkey during animal testing https://t.co/4pcZ0oKlXl via @YouTube @Loreal
— Jessica ☠️ (@jehsyka_) March 15, 2017
@Loreal Stop this! No cosmetic worth this. No market worth keeping. Won't purchase from you or subsidiary until then https://t.co/SizNjRMTC1
— Jessica Leibovitz (@TheJessle) March 16, 2017
@Loreal, I will not buy your products until you stop animal testing everywhere. https://t.co/ljyvozDNzZ #AnimalCruelty #StopAnimalCruelty
— Kaluana (@Kaluana) March 16, 2017
Did you see the video circulating social media? What are your thoughts on L’Oréal’s animal welfare policy? Sound off in the comments section below!
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
