Avon

How ethical is Avon?

Avon, a make-up and skincare brand owned by Natura Cosméticos S.A., is one of The Good Shopping Guide’s independently-researched brands. (This parent company also owns the health and beauty brand, The Body Shop.) The brand receives a Good Shopping Guide ethical score that is just below ‘good’ in our Ethical Skincare Ratings Table, and therefore just misses our ethical benchmark. 

We encourage all companies in the Skincare sector to keep pushing for higher ethical standards.

Is Avon vegan?

Avon performs well across all categories of our research, receiving top marks for its Environmental Report, stance against using GM ingredients, Animal Welfare and the stocking of Vegetarian/ Vegan products.

Avon’s parent company, Natura Cosméticos S.A., has released an extensive Environmental Report, which includes targets to achieve Net Zero by 2030. This report also tracks its sustainability progress so far, achieving zero deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest this year. As a cosmetics brand, this is a particularly crucial statistic as many unethical beauty and make up brands use palm oil, which causes rife environmental degradation. Also included in this progress report is Natura Cosméticos S.A.’s achieving 95%+ biodegradable product formula. Greater natural breakdown of these formulae means that there will be fewer chemicals going out into ecosystems.

How could Avon improve its rating?

To achieve our Ethical Accreditation Award, Avon could invest in gaining Organic-certification across some of its products. Growing and producing make-up ingredients without the use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other agrochemicals that are toxic to both people and wildlife. According to Open Secrets, individuals associated closely with Avon continue to donate to the American Democratic party election cycles. Donating to political parties interrupts and interferes with the democratic process, and so we urge Avon and its associates to reconsider this part of its business practice.