L'Oréal Found Guilty of Racism, Kate Winslet & Clive Owen Under Pressure to Cancel Contracts with Cosmetics Giant {The 5th Sense in the News}

This is a belated report on a racism law-suit brought against l'Oréal's Garnier label by SOS Racisme to establish that they had practiced systematic racial discrimination when recruiting personnel. Garnier was recognized guilty by a French court through a historic ruling.....

Because Lancôme is part of the same l'Oréal group, SOS Racisme is putting pressure on Kate Winslet and Clive Owen to forsake their contracts with Lancôme for the new Trésor perfume advertising campaign due to start this fall. Speaking of discrimination based on idealized societal representations, Kate Winslet had previously agreed to star in the ad provided her generous curves would not be photoshopped.

In July 2000, a fax detailing the profile of hostesses sought by L'Oréal stipulated women should be 18 to 22, size 38-42 (UK size 10-14) and "BBR", the initials for bleu, blanc, rouge, the colours of the French flag. Prosecutors argued that BBR, a shorthand used by the far right, was also a well-known code among employers to mean "white" French people and not those of north African, African and Asian backgrounds. [....]

One woman working in the recruitment firm involved said foreign-sounding names or photos showing a candidate was of Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian or other African origin would ensure candidates were eliminated. Another said: "I once had a good woman candidate but she was non-white. I had to ask someone to pretend that our list was full. It was hard."

Photos are from celebrity.rightpundits.com