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La Prairie is NOT Cruelty-Free!
La Prairie allows its products or ingredients to be tested on animals when required by law including when selling in stores in mainland China.
In addition, La Prairie is owned by Beiersdorf, a parent company that is NOT cruelty-free.
La Prairie’s Animal Testing Policy
On La Prairie’s website, they claim they don’t perform any tests on animals, “except where required by law.”
See below for a screenshot of what’s currently stated on La Prairie’s website:
Policies stating, “except where required by law,” usually imply the company is selling its products in mainland China. That’s because cosmetics sold in stores in mainland China are required by law to be tested on animals.
Is La Prairie Sold in China?
In my research, I discovered that La Prairie products are indeed sold in stores in mainland China.
Below is a screenshot of La Prairie’s Chinese website and store locator showing results in mainland China:
But Doesn’t China No Longer Test on Animals?
Companies can bypass China’s pre-market animal testing by choosing to manufacture their ordinary or general cosmetics in China, but it’s not stated anywhere that La Prairie has taken this route.
Additionally, the possibility of post-market animal testing is not completely ruled out and may be conducted on some cosmetics sold in physical stores in China.
As of May 1, 2021, cosmetic companies can also export and sell their ordinary or general cosmetics in China without animal testing only if they meet a set of preconditions first. However, meeting these conditions has proven difficult, and it’s still unclear what exactly is accepted according to the new regulations. So there’s no word yet of any company that has successfully done so.
Follow the highlighted lines in the graphic below to see why most cosmetics sold in China (like La Prairie) are still required by law to be tested on animals in 2022.
Because La Prairie has decided to sell in mainland China stores, they must consent and pay to have their products tested on animals. That’s why most cosmetics brands selling in mainland China cannot be considered cruelty-free in 2022.
Although La Prairie may not be conducting these animal tests themselves, they knowingly allow Chinese authorities to test their products on animals to sell in China.
For those reasons, we would not consider La Prairie to be cruelty-free by our standards.
Cruelty-Free Policies
Many truly cruelty-free brands have chosen not to sell their products in China because of its animal testing laws. Unfortunately, La Prairie refuses to do the same and therefore cannot be considered cruelty-free.
At ethical elephant, we always assess a company’s cruelty-free policy using our Cruelty-Free Checklist. This ensures no animal testing was performed by the brand itself, its suppliers, or by any third parties, including when required by law.
See below for our complete cruelty-free checklist. Since La Prairie already does not meet the last two, we cannot classify the brand as being cruelty-free.
Is La Prairie Certified Cruelty-Free?
La Prairie is not certified cruelty-free by any third-party cruelty-free certifications like Leaping Bunny or PETA.
Because La Prairie is not certified cruelty-free by a third party, no one is looking into or substantiating La Prairie’s cruelty-free commitments and claims.
Is La Prairie Owned By A Non-Cruelty-Free Parent Company?
Yes. La Prairie is owned by Beiersdorf, a parent corporation that still engages in animal testing in 2022.
Some cruelty-free consumers may choose to purchase and support cruelty-free brands owned by animal-tested parent corporations as they hope it will convince the parent company to become cruelty-free.
But in this case, La Prairie is NOT cruelty-free and neither is its parent corporation, Beiersdorf.
Is La Prairie Cruelty-Free?
To sum up, by choosing to sell in mainland China, La Prairie must have its products tested on animals. Therefore, we would NOT consider La Prairie to be a cruelty-free brand.
Currently, La Prairie is on our List of Brands to Avoid – Animal Tested.
Is La Prairie Vegan?
La Prairie does not claim or market itself to offer any vegan-friendly options. And since La Prairie engages in animal testing, we wouldn’t consider anything sold or produced by La Prairie to be vegan anyways.
In order for products to be considered vegan by ethical elephant’s standards, the products and their ingredients must not be tested on animals anywhere in the world. Also, they must not contain any animal-derived ingredients or by-products.
Cruelty-Free Alternatives to La Prairie
Looking to switch to cruelty-free brands? Here are some cruelty-free and vegan-friendly options that are similar to La Prairie:
- Tata Harper *owned by Amorepacific
- Omorovicza
- Chantecaille *owned by Beiersdorf
- Dr. Barbara Sturm
- Perricone MD
