Essay Example on Reputational Risks in Beauty Industry

In the corporate world, the reputation of an organization is majorly self-made. The reputation is earned from the social and environmental responsibility of the organization to the society. Notably, most of the organization frame their visions, missions and core values towards the realization of a perfect cooperate practice. A good cooperate practice adheres to both professionalism and ethical practice both in service delivery and in the manufacturing of related products that the company deals in. in the beauty industry, the customers are greatly concerned with the non-toxic ingredient used and clean products (Chun, 2016). The effort is being pilled in this sector since skin care is both health issue and a fashion trend in the society. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the actual situation within the beauty and cosmetic industry.

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The cosmetic and beauty product shops have risk reputations concerning the testers that they display. In any beauty shop , a tester is provided to help a customer understand the product better. From a research carried in top beauty shops which include; M.A.C, Sephora , Shoppers Drug Mart, and Tthe Body Shop showed a worrying trend within the industry that is both unethical and health hazard to the customers. The testers are not clean as assumed by their highly esteemed customers. From a research conducted it was realized that all the four shops had testers contaminated with either staph or yeast/ mold. During the research, 15 samples of testers were collected from each beauty shop. The result from MAC company showed that 3 samples had staph while 4 samples had either yeast or mold. The Body Shop had a half of its samples contaminated with staph while four tested positive for either yeat or mold. Consequently, Sephora and the Shoppers Drug Mart samples showed a similar result. This research points out that in cosmetic and beauty industry individuals are likely to contract diseases from the testers. Moreover, the pathogens found in the testers can easily be passed through the administration of lip gloss and other skin wears for individuals with susceptible skins.

The cleaning mechanism of testers in the beauty industry is not perfect. According to the research, the testers are normally cleaned using alcohol which kills the pathogens only to about 90%. This trend is of health concerns as most of the beauty shop customers trust that testers are totally free from pathogens. Additionally, some of the shops do not clean the testers regularly as demanded. From a research video on Youtube, attendants admit cleaning the window panes as the expense of the testers. The attendants in beauty industry practice professional negligence. Despite Sephora training its employees on how to clean the testers , the employees ignore this vital issue in their practice (Chun, 2016).

According to Chun (2016), the beauty products have the source of their ingredients from child labor prone regions. Cocoa which is used in most beauty products is produced from Ivory Coast and Ghana which have child labor concerns. Moreover, butter, vanilla, copper,silk, and mica have either their production or farming aided by child labor. This is a great concern in the world with Lush making headlines in 2014.

The extraction of by-products for the beauty industry leads to deforestation, water pollution, and animal extinction. The aforementioned effects have been witnessed through harvesting of carnauba and camellia wax used for both mascaras and lipsticks. Palm oils post the greatest effect in the rainforests as its harvesting is nearly causing the extinction of orangutan and deforestation in the area (Gould, 2017).

Aerosols use in the beauty industry have both air and water pollutions. The body sprays are used nearly in every household in the world. Such sprays pollute the air which consequently results in the formation of acidic rain. The effect is transferred to water bodies and affecting aquatic life (Gould, 2017).

According to Gould (2017), the cosmetic industry covers up for its unethical practices. Sephora beauty shop and MAC purport to train their employees on the hygiene mechanism to keep testers clean. This appears to be cover up since the companies do not follow to realize whether these hygiene standards are followed. Additionally, Shoppers Drug Mart covers up these unclean testers by cleaning the window panes and the whole room. The Lush company in 2014 decided to remove mica from its products to avoid criticism against child labor in the production of its products.

The realization of the unprofessionalism in the beauty industry has taken me aback in my taste for beauty products. The realization of how palm oil affects the lives of orangutan makes me reconsider my stand on palm oil. Additionally , products made from cocoa , vanilla and shea butter will not feature in my selection. This is to help stop these heinous act of child labor. My selection of a beauty product in shops will be internet searched but never use a tester,this is following my realization of how pathogens thrive in testers.

Permanent solution of the unethical practices and professionalism concerns pivoted on the six components of corporate culture. It is necessary to recreate a good vision for the beauty industry which should be purposefully to offer both hygienically and environmentally proven products (Gould, 2017). Companies such as Lush as ensured adopted such visions. Corporate values such as integrity should be upheld by all employees to ensure that they carry out there mandates diligently. Sephora can apply this in realizing that shop attendants carry out the cleaning of the tester as they have been trained. The values and visions should be practiced with respect and care in regards to corporate business obligations. Additionally, each team player within the beauty industry such as suppliers should ensure that business ethics are followed. Environmental concerns are addressed and child labor is eliminated in the beauty products manufacturing chain. Based on professionalism and ethical practices , a good narrative on the beauty industry will be created that respect both the environment and humanity in general.

References

Chun, R. (2016). What holds ethical consumers to a cosmetics brand: The Body Shop case. Business & Society, 55(4), 528-549.

Gould, P. M. (2017). Making a Difference: the Impact of Corporate Ethical Behavior on Consumers in the Beauty Industry.