Beauty behemoth L’Oréal USA wants to support Americans through the ongoing COVID-19 public health pandemic. Following the recent announcement of the L’Oréal Group’s Coronavirus Solidarity Programs in Europe and in Canada, the group’s largest subsidiary, L’Oréal USA, has also unveiled measures to support communities impacted by the crisis, which has triggered widespread lockdowns all over the US.
These measures include an immediate $250,000 donation to the hunger-relief non-profit Feeding America, to boost its COVID-19 Response Fund. The company will also match any additional employee donations to the organization dollar-for-dollar, to the tune of up to $25,000.
L’Oréal’s North American manufacturing facilities will begin to make alcohol-based hand sanitizer this week, to be donated to US employees, partners and healthcare professionals working on the frontlines.
The company is also donating $1 million worth of personal care and hygiene products such as cleansers and moisturizers to the non-profit organization Feed the Children, and donating surgical and N95 respirator masks to local hospitals near its operations facilities in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Franklin, New Jersey.
Furthermore, the group also announced it will freeze payments due from "very small and small-sized enterprises," such as hair salons, across its distribution network, and shorten its payment times for small suppliers impacted financially by the outbreak.
"I know I speak for all of my colleagues when I say that we at L’Oréal USA feel a deep responsibility to do our part to help address this crisis in the many communities in which we live and work," said Stéphane Rinderknech, President and CEO of L’Oréal USA, and Executive Vice President, North America, in a statement. "We stand in solidarity with the brave people who are tirelessly and selflessly working to end this pandemic, and it is our hope that, through these actions, we are able to provide some relief during this challenging time."
Multiple beauty brands have rolled out support initiatives in North America in light of the growing crisis: Coty is producing hydro-alcoholic gel for medics and emergency service workers, while The Estée Lauder Companies has made a donation to the New York-based NYC COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund, in addition to giving $2 million to the non-profit organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Personal care giant Unilever United States also unveiled a new project, ‘United for America,’ this week, which will see it partner with Feeding America to donate food, soap, personal hygiene and home cleaning products worth more than $8 million, amongst other initiatives.
