Shiseido Company announced today that they have signed an agreement to acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant, a leading and fast-growing prestige brand. Drunk Elephant is a recognized expert in developing clean, reliable and highly effective products. This acquisition helps strengthen Shiseido’s leadership in the market of prestige skincare.
What is Drunk Elephant
Tiffany Masterson founded Drunk Elephant in 2012. Masterson focused on offering an effective solution for all skin type problems. The brand has exponentially grown across many consumer demographics and has since been known for iconic products with eco-friendly ingredients that strongly benefit the skin’s health. A large part of what sets Drunk Elephant apart from other prestige skincare brands is how dedicated the brand is to support the integrity and effectiveness of the formulations, all while remaining ethical and sustainable.
Why did this acquisition happen
Drunk Elephant (DE) has been looking for an organization to take on the company since January 2019. The brand has grown tremendously over the past 7 years – much larger than anticipated. The demand is rising for iconic DE products in markets worldwide. With this acquisition, Drunk Elephant stated on their Instagram account four major improvements that will come from it:
1. Attain sustainability across the brand.
2. Get to the markets who have been requesting the products.
3. Share our philosophy in a louder way, spreading awareness so that we can hopefully help more people reconnect with their skin all over the world.
4. Ignite our anti-bullying campaign on a bigger stage.
– Drunk Elephant
They also state that Shiseido will respect the brand’s vision and identity, allowing Drunk Elephant to stay who they are. The formulations will not change due to the acquisition and neither will the brand’s values (which includes being cruelty-free). Masterson will retain her current role and responsibilities within the brand and her team will stay with her. Masterson considers Shiseido a global powerhouse that will help the brand achieve its goals and satisfy more consumers worldwide.
Drunk Elephant is Cruelty-Free before acquisition
Yes. Drunk Elephant was a cruelty-free brand. The brand does not test on animals and only sells in China online (E-commerce) and in Hong Kong – both exempt from the animal testing regulations in the mainland. This blog post explains China’s animal testing regulations if you need further clarification. Read more about Drunk Elephant’s decision to enter the Chinese market here.
how the acquisition affects their cruelty-free status
Before the acquisition, Free The Bunnies considers Drunk Elephant a 100% cruelty-free brand. Drunk Elephant followed all cruelty-free guidelines. DE being independently owned, a parent company was not considered. In the acquisition agreement, Shiseido Company dedicates their efforts to keeping Drunk Elephant cruelty-free by respecting the brand’s values and ethics. As long as Shiseido follows through on this request by DE, the brand will remain cruelty-free. Should anything change, I will provide an update.
Shiseido is not a cruelty-free corporation. Shiseido sells their signature products in mainland China. Mainland China requires that all cosmetics sold shall undergo animal testing. This acquisition deems Drunk Elephant to now be owned by a non-cruelty free parent company. Drunk Elephant is no longer Free The Bunnies approved and will be removed from the Ultimate Guide: Cruelty-Free Brands List. The Free The Bunnies standard requires that the brand not have *any* ties to animal testing. While Drunk Elephant is cruelty-free, Shiseido will receive a small portion of consumer dollars used to purchase DE products, hence funding a brand that undergoes animal testing.
What you can do now
This should not discourage consumers. The Ultimate Guide: Cruelty-Free Brands List has hundreds of 100% cruelty-free skincare alternatives. Some competitive prestige skincare brands that are still 100% cruelty-free are below:
- Tata Harper
- Sunday Riley
- Elemis
- Indie Lee
- Kopari
- Osea Malibu
- Ole Henriksen
- Truly Organic *100% Vegan
- Volition Beauty
- Youth to the People *100% Vegan
What do you think of this acquisition? What does it mean for you? Let me know in the comments below. 🙂
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XO, Stephanie
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Very disappointed will have to move on 🙁
Hi! Thanks for in-depth article. I did, however, read in the q&a from the Shiseido purchase a couple of things that you might find interesting. I saved the article here: https://www.seeingpinkelephants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Shiseido-qa-of-purchase-of-Drunk-Elephant-October-2019.pdf It says that firstly Shiseido comitted to stopping animal testing in 2013 and also that it seems that it’s doesn’t actually sell it’s products directly in China but on various websites that SHIP to China. Which in my opinion would still allow it to be classified as cruelty-free no? Curious to hear your thoughts!
That’s a very interesting article! Unfortunately, the Q&A states that they are considering putting Drunk Elephant in physical stores. In addition to that, Shiseido claims that they stopped animal testing, which may be true themselves, but my understanding is that they sell in China, and are subject to animal testing because of that. It still stands that DE is owned by a non-CF parent company, and time will tell whether or not DE enters physical stores in China.
Very disappointed after researching and finding out drunk elephant sold themselves out just so China could get a piece if the action. Let China test it on themselves not innocent animals. Pointless of believing that DE will stay cruelty free.
Very disappointed in Drunk Elephant. Sellouts.
Pointless if owned by a company that sells to China where animal testing is required. I was going to try the product but WILL not due to Shiseido now owning the company. You either are cruelty free or you are not, this company is not, period. Too bad Drunk Elephant sold out.