Netizens Call For Boycott Of Popular K-Beauty Brands In Support Of Palestine
Content Warning
Since October 7, the death toll in the Gaza Strip has reportedly reached 30,800 due to IDF attacks. The surviving Palestinians in Gaza are struggling to survive as over 72,198 are injured, and many are starving, displaced, and lost homes, family, and friends.
As more become more aware and informed on the humanitarian issues in Palestine, people are attempting to make a change by joining global boycotts of companies that have any affiliation with Israel. BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) is an entity that identifies brands that should be targeted in boycotts.
The BDS movement did not initiate these grassroots boycott campaigns but is in support of them due to these brands openly supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
— BDS on organic boycott targets
Still, many pro-Palestine activists and netizens are continuing to discover more companies with Israeli affiliations, adding them to their personal boycott lists. Now, netizens are raising awareness about popular K-Beauty brands.
Recently, K-Beauty TikToker @honey.wlbeauty shared a now-viral list of brands that support Israel, encouraging a boycott. It garnered 36.6K views at the time of writing, while @_miaoumiaou_‘s repost on X (formerly Twitter) garnered 2.6M views.
K beauty brand we need to boycott (support Isr*el) thread : pic.twitter.com/leeXmAB7Ft
— مليحة (@_miaoumiaou_) March 7, 2024
Viral brand COSRX is known for its snail mucin line of products. It’s owned by Amorepacific Corporation (also known as Amore Pacific), which is linked to Vanguard Investments. According to Morningstar data, Vanguard is one of 22 investment companies that hold investments in Israel.
Likewise, while Dr.Jart+ is a Korean brand, its parent company is Estée Lauder, whose chairman is a known Zionist.
Ronald Lauder, who inherited the Estee Lauder company, is the president of the World Jewish Congress, and chairman of the Jewish National Fund, and is a zionist with extremist views and financially and politically supports Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.
— @chloewidera/TikTok
Like COSRX, the beloved K-Beauty brand Innisfree is also owned by Amore Pacific.
Unfortunately, the Amorepacific Corporation is a South Korean beauty and cosmetics chaebol that operates “more than thirty beauty, personal care, and health brands.” This also includes Etude House, Sulwhasoo, Laneige, ILLIYOON, Mise En Scène, Espoir, Hera, Mamonde, and many more.
South Korean cosmetics brand 3CE is the brainchild of Korean fashion blogger StyleNanda. L’Oréal acquired it, however, and this company is “the #1 beauty company in Israel.” According to the BDS Movement, it even “manufactures a line of products using Dead Sea minerals under the name Natural Sea Beauty’ that is exported to 22 countries.” So, it’s a primary target in the boycott.
Stylenanda was founded in 2004 by Nanda, owned by Kim So Hee. It had further expanded internationally and established branches in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand.
May 2, 2018 L’Oréal announced the acquisition of 100% of Nanda Co. Ltd. One of its flagship stores is located in Myeong-dong, Seoul in South Korea. Named Pink Hotel, it is a hotel-themed “everything pink” flagship store.
— Wikipedia
While this list might look overwhelming, many K-Beauty products still have no ties to Israel. @honey.wlbeauty posted another list of companies that are safe to purchase from if you are boycotting the others.
Some viral and popular K-Beauty brands you can continue purchasing from include Beauty of Joseon, Nature Republic, Colorgram, and TONY MOLY. They are not known to have ties to Israel.
PURITO is considered a safe choice as it’s a relatively new brand.
Dermatory, Goodal, Healing bird, and Peripera are good choices, as they are all owned by Clio Cosmetics, which has no known tie to Israel. Some of its current brand ambassadors include TXT, aespa, and Go Min Si.
Other K-Beauty companies to consider are Anua, Merzy, Wakemake, Mixsoon, Missha, Amuse, SKIN1004, TIRTIR, Isntree, I’M FROM, Round Lab, and Rom&nd. There are endless choices!
If you already own products by one of the now-boycotted companies, continue to use them until they run out. The company already has your money, so there’s no use in wasting the product.
