On January 23, Colgate announced that is has acquired brand Hello Products, one of the fastest-growing drugstore oral care brands. This news hit me very hard and the disappointment poured in, which is why it took me so long to announce this. Maybe if I didn’t write it, it wouldn’t be true. But we all know that doesn’t work. The reason Hello Products has been one of the fastest-growing oral care brands is because they are affordable, WIDELY available, and a 100% cruelty-free toothpaste brand that FINALLY WORKS FOR EVERYONE. And yet again, the brand is swooped up by a giant, unethical corporation.
why do cruelty-free brands sell out to cruel parent companies?
The short answer is: opportunity. Hello Products saw an opportunity to grow their outreach and overall success as a business. Colgate saw an opportunity to grow a brand that has insane momentum right now in the oral care industry. And as long as the acquired brand remains cruelty-free, that seems to be all that matters. You can read the full acquisition story here.
However, the underlying issue is that as parent companies continue to acquire cruelty-free brands, they continue to profit from the cruelty-free industry while not being cruelty-free themselves. Parent companies test on animals but then also gain from cruelty-free brands? It just seems completely unethical and deceitful.
Will Hello Products Remain Cruelty-free?
The silver lining here is that Hello Products did make a deal with Colgate to keep the brand cruelty-free. However, if you care about not supporting cruel parent companies, Hello Products has unfortunately been added to the Brands to Avoid list.
But Don’t Get Discouraged…..
Click here for a full list of oral care brands that are still 100% Cruelty-Free per the Free The Bunnies standard. These brands are not owned by parent companies that test on animals.
What do you think about this acquisition? Let me know in the comments below!
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XO, Stephanie
Method going for the big bucks (and being bought out by a non- cruelty free company) was SO devastating to me I started buying them when they were relatively small in San Francisco….I told everyone how great they were then Seventh Generation! Ahhhh! If companies realize the “kids” who cared and plastered no animal testing bunny stickers everywhere have grown up as have their wallets maybe things will change!
My heart is broken.
*Insert angry face here. This is ridiculous. It’s getting harder and harder to find actual cruelty free brands of things that aren’t owned by the giant pro cruelty conglomerates. What happened to sticking to your morals? They obviously are big on cruelty free, because that’s what they went into the market with. So do they really feel like as long as they’re cruelty free, nothing else matters? Even though now if you purchase their product, you’ll be supporting a pro cruelty company?