Unilever is NOT cruelty-free or vegan.

This means Unilever tests on animals directly or through third-parties and uses animal-derived ingredients. Some brands that fall under this category only test on animals where required by law, which means they’re not cruelty-free.

Brands currently owned by Unilever:

Company Overview

Unilever is a GIANT British-Dutch multinational founded in 1929.

Throughout the years, the company has amassed a seriously huge collection of brands in the food, beverage, cleaning, beauty, and personal care categories. Some of their most notable drugstore brands include Q-Tips, Dove, TRESemmé, Axe, Suave, Vaseline, TIGI, and Lever 2000.

Recently, the company has been quietly hoarding a growing collection of smaller “cruelty-free” brands including REN Skincare, Dollar Shave Club, Hourglass, Kate Somerville, Dermalogica, and Seventh Generation. These companies have remained cruelty-free even after being acquired by Unilever, but the profits from these smaller brands still go to Unilever and therefore still fund animal testing, so they are unfortunately no longer truly cruelty-free.

Animal Testing Policy

Despite being a leader in the development of alternatives to cosmetics animal testing, Unilever DOES test on animals where required by law, such as in mainland China, where many of their brands are sold. But this doesn’t stop them from trying to project a cruelty-free image to consumers:

“We do not test our products on animals and are committed to ending animal testing. Unilever has complied with the EU animal testing bans for cosmetics since 2004 and supports calls for similar bans to be introduced globally.”

BUT…

“Occasionally, across our portfolio, some of the ingredients we use have to be tested by our suppliers to comply with legal and regulatory requirements in some markets; and some governments test certain products on animals as part of their regulations.”

This means that Unilever does test on animals and is therefore not a cruelty-free company.

Testing on animals is a requirement for selling products in China, but a company is not required to sell products there. Any company that elects to sell products anywhere that requires animal testing is guilty of directly causing unnecessary animal suffering simply to satisfy their own greed.

Read their full animal testing policy.

Looking for cruelty-free brands?

Browse my curated list of cruelty-free brands to find brands that are 100% vegan and 100% cruelty-free.