Ethics and cosmetic brands - a strategy of brand management despite a corporate culture (2009-2010)

Résumé du document

Classically, cosmetics products are made from a mix of synthetic and chemistry components, next very often tested on animals before selling on the market; but cosmetics industrials were decried by consumers when some public scandals have burnt, concerning the torture of animals in the testing laboratories and about cancer-producing components of some cosmetics products.

Thus, since the nineties, the tendency is changing with the pressure of public opinion; several new cosmetic brands emerged and adopted an ethical trend of processing production which was extending on several sectors such as alimentation and clothes. Moreover, more and more customers pay attention to the ethical attributes of a product and values of a brand when they purchase it.

That is the reason why, nowadays all the companies promote their products with ethical values, even if their producing processes are far away from an ethical corporate culture.

Extraits

[...] What we are referring to here is the firm's behavior with respect to sending signals to consumers about its ‘environmental credibility' and the consumer's behavior in terms of his or her response to such a signal being sent. We categorize the populations of firms and consumers into three sub-groups, and these are summarized in Table 1 FCSR abides by the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR). If there is a trade-off between profitability and sustainability performance, i.e. ‘win-win' outcomes are not available, and then a FCSR may choose to forego some profitability. It takes actions to reduce the impacts placed on the natural environment and on society by its production processes. [...]

[...] Recommendations to be a real ethical cosmetics brand: III A specific brand management To be a real ethical brand has to consider the following guidelines when developing codes of ethics: 1. Review any values need to adhere to relevant laws and regulations. Increase priority on values that will help your organization operate to avoid breaking these laws and to follow necessary regulations Review which values produce the top three or four traits of a highly ethical and successful product or service in your area Identify values needed to address current issues in your industry and workplace. [...]

[...] Although the development of the naturals and organics market has been concentrated in Europe, the North American is catching up fast. To this end, the report argues that after France, the US is actually the world's second largest market according to retail sales figures for last year. The market report also deals with that fair-trade cosmetics products are expected to continue to rise in popularity on a global basis during the course of the year, in correlation with the ‘mainstreaming' of natural and organic personal care brands. [...]

[...] This was a far cry from the poor performance put in during the same period last year which saw a decrease. The category rose from 309.110 m to 330.561 m this year, while volume also saw an increase, rising from 19.686 m to 20.561 m litres. According to AC Nielsen, from March 2008 to February 2009, the Russian body care category grew by taking a share of the total skin care market overall. As one might expect, given the United States economy at present, sales of body care products have declined a bit during the past year. [...]

[...] After underlined all the opportunities and assets to include ethical values in the brand management and marketing strategy, we will focus the difference among the real cosmetics business models and the cosmetics companies which use the green washing effect. APPENDIX FOR THE CHAPTER Bibliography: Books: -“Strategic Brand Management” (Editions Prentice Hall & 2002) written by Kevin Lane Keller. - “Building Strong Brands” (Jossey-Bass Inc., U.S. Editions, 1996) written by Sir David A. Aker. - “Branding Management: La Marque, de l'idée à l'action” (2ème Edition Pearson Education 2007) written by Georges Levi. - logo, la tyrannie des marques” (Editions J'ai Lu 2004) written by Naomi Klein. [...]