Is The Balm cruelty free?
In order to ensure that a brand is completely cruelty free, doesn’t test on animals at any point during the production of their products, I reach out to them via email. Here is my email exchange with The Balm…
Good morning,
I’m the founder of Ethical Bunny, a website that features a list of cruelty free brands and product recommendations. I am interested in listing The Balm in my database, but to do so I need to ensure that you are in fact cruelty free. I just had a few questions if you wouldn’t mind.
Are any of your products or ingredients tested on animals?
Do you have a Leaping Bunny, CCF or PETA certification?
Does your company sell products in mainland China (except Hong Kong)?
Do your suppliers or any third parties test on animals on your behalf?
Are you owned by a parent company that tests on animals?
Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. Thank you for your time!
Svetlana Mikhaylova
www.ethicalbunny.com
Here is their response:
Based on this email, I have concluded that The Balm is in fact cruelty free and it has been added to our database of cruelty free brands. Their products may also be featured in our shopping guides. Check out their products here.
Is Balm Balm owned by a parent company that tests on animals?
Balm Balm is not owned by any parent company that tests on animals.
In the beauty industry, it’s common for brands to be owned by a larger company. These are called parent companies, and they’re often global corporations such as L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, or Procter & Gamble.
Most of these parent companies are not cruelty-free, since they test on animals to some degree. They might also own several brands that are not cruelty-free.
However, some of the brands owned by these parent companies are cruelty-free and have strict policies against animal testing.
There are pros and cons to supporting cruelty-free brands owned by parent companies that aren’t.
You can either:
- Choose to boycott them since they’re a part of a larger conglomerate that engages in animal testing.
- Choose to support some of them based on the individual ethics of each parent company, or only purchase from them if there are no independent alternatives.
- Choose to support them since they are 100% cruelty-free even though their parent company is not, therefore showing their parent company that consumers are favoring their cruelty-free brands.
In the cruelty-free community, the majority of conscious consumers purchase from cruelty-free brands even if they’re owned by a parent company that tests on animals. This is our stance at Cruelty-Free Kitty as well. We believe that supporting all cruelty-free brands is the only path towards a cruelty-free and more ethical beauty industry.
It’s also worth noting that subsidiary brands of parent companies are unique corporations by themselves. They act as independent branches and operate independently from the parent company, and can also be sold to other companies including cruelty-free ones.
Another aspect to consider is that many parts of the world only have access to limited brands, so their only cruelty-free options are owned by large corporations. This is a concern we hear about constantly from our international readers. Given this complex landscape, we believe that supporting all cruelty-free brands is ethical as well as practical.
A minority of shoppers choose to boycott brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals.
At Cruelty-Free Kitty, we make it easy for all of our readers to know which brands are owned by a parent company that tests on animals. At the top of each brand page, you’ll see a “parent company” note if that’s the case.
You can also filter our list of cruelty-free brands to only show brands that are not owned by any company that tests on animals.
Finally, for a list of brands owned by a parent company that tests on animals, click here.