COVERGIRL Announced That They Are Cruelty-Free – Is It True?

Today, COVERGIRL announced that they are now Leaping Bunny certified cruelty-free. This raised a lot of questions and skepticism in how legitimate this claim really is. There is a lot of pressure on brands to become cruelty-free and the term has been thrown around loosely by brands because they want our business. So how legitimate is this cruelty-free claim from COVERGIRL? I dug deep into this claim and reached out to COVERGIRL directly to find out the truth behind their certification. Keep reading to find out.

Is COVERGIRL Really Leaping Bunny Certified?

Yes, they are Leaping Bunny Certified as of November 5th, 2018. Keep in mind that to become certified by Leaping Bunny as a cruelty-free brand, they have to prove the following:

• The brand does not test on animals, nor do they hire a third party to test on their behalf.
• They have proof/documentation that their ingredient suppliers do not test on animals.
• They do not sell in markets where animal testing is required by law (ie. mainland China).

And COVERGIRL did confirm with me that they have pulled out of the Chinese market. In 2006, COVERGIRL was acquired by Proctor & Gamble, and they forced COVERGIRL into the Chinese markets. In 2016, COVERGIRL left P&G’s umbrella and became acquired by Coty Brands. This could have been the turning point to take COVERGIRL out of China and work on obtaining the Leaping Bunny certification. It takes a lot of work to become Leaping Bunny certified and COVERGIRL could have been working on this for a long time.

Why Is COVERGIRL Not Listed on Leaping Bunny’s Cruelty-Free List?

There are two organizations that can authorize a Leaping Bunny certification: Leaping Bunny and Cruelty Free International. Cruelty Free International is who announced that COVERGIRL is Leaping Bunny certified and COVERGIRL is on Cruelty Free International’s cruelty-free database. COVERGIRL is abiding by each one of Leaping Bunny’s regulations that I listed above. I will give an update on whether or not COVERGIRL will be added to Leaping Bunny’s cruelty-free database, which is still a missing piece of the puzzle. UPDATE: COVERGIRL is now on LeapingBunny.org’s certified cruelty-free database.

Cruelty Free International is a very reputable organization that conducts routine audits to ensure all brands that are certified are continuing to comply with their regulations. Any brand that is Leaping Bunny certified CANNOT sell in China, and this is what confused a lot of people. So many of us were under the impression that COVERGIRL sold in China and therefore this couldn’t be true. Since being taken out of P&G’s umbrella, they were able to pull out of the Chinese market and work on their Leaping Bunny certification.

Note – If a brand is Leaping Bunny certified, they are cruelty-free. Stating that a brand is Leaping Bunny certified is completely different than stating “Not Tested on Animals” or “We are Cruelty-Free.” COVERGIRL also confirmed that they are working on new labels where all of their product labels will have the Leaping Bunny logo by 2020.

What About Their Parent Company?

Leaping Bunny ensures that the brand itself is 100% cruelty-free, but does not take into consideration their parent company. COVERGIRL itself is 100% cruelty-free (YAY), but they are owned by Coty Brands, which unfortunately is not a cruelty-free brand. Coty still has acquired brands that sell in the Chinese market, but as with COVERGIRL, they are working on pulling more brands out of China in the future. At this point, it is up to your personal preference whether or not to support COVERGIRL, knowing that their parent company is not cruelty-free. Some people mind it, and some people don’t.

So What Does This Mean For Cruelty-Free Beauty?

This is massive for the cruelty-free community. I personally have not supported COVERGIRL for some time and I don’t think I will start now because of personal preference, but it is phenomenal to see such a large, mainstream brand prove to other large corporations that testing on animals is TRULY unnecessary. COVERGIRL is the largest brand to ever become Leaping Bunny certified and there is hope that other large brands will follow in their footsteps. They are also the largest drugstore brand to become cruelty-free and is available almost anywhere, which gives cruelty-free consumers an easily accessible cruelty-free makeup option.

This movement also shows the cruelty-free community that brands ARE working on becoming cruelty-free more than they let on. Look at how big of a surprise this was for everyone, but COVERGIRL has been working towards this for a long time because a Leaping Bunny certification is not easy to obtain and we never even knew about it. This gives us even more hope that other large brands are working on this too behind the scenes.

Overall, this is a great achievement by COVERGIRL, whether you choose to support them or not support them. It is also an achievement to the cruelty-free community and a loud message to brands that are not yet cruelty-free. It is possible. It can happen. It is their time to step up to the plate.

I hope you found this helpful in determining that COVERGIRL really is cruelty-free and this is something worth celebrating.