MAC, Anastasia Beverly Hills, and Phyto have issued strong statements against the influencer.
Several major beauty brands have distanced themselves from Kuwaiti beauty blogger Sondos Alqattan because of her comments about Filipino domestic workers.
The makeup artist and beauty blogger with 2.3 million Instagram followers, caused a global uproar when she posted a video in which she described changes to Kuwait’s sponsorship system as “pathetic”.
In the wake of the controversy, MAC Cosmetics – one of the world’s largest cosmetic brands – said it would be ending its relationship with the influencer.
“We currently do not have any partnerships with her and will no longer be working with her on any brand activities,” the company said in a statement provided to Gulf News.
The company added that it strives “to align ourselves with partners that share our core values and in no way tolerates excluding anyone.”
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Anastasia Beverly Hills shared a post to its Instagram Stories revealing it was “deeply disappointed” by Alqattan’s remarks surrounding Kuwait’s updated labour laws.
“These comments [completely] contradict the core values of Anastasia Beverly Hills and we have not and never will condone any hateful, discriminatory views,” the makeup brand wrote.
“Sondos is not affiliated, employed or collaborating with ABH. As a result of her statements, ABH has unfollowed Sondos and removed her from our PR list.”
French haircare brand Phyto also issued a strong statement on Instagram: “We were very surprised and troubled when hearing about the cruel comments made by @sondos_aq and do not tolerate any kind of racism and abuse.
“Soon after finding out about her dreadful actions, we contacted our local distributor in Kuwait and requested that any partnerships with Ms Alqattan were put to an end effective immediately. We take our brand’s values very seriously and will not support such behavior or have it associated with our products.”
Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido told CNN it was not currently working with Alqattan and had no plans to work with her again in the future.
“Shiseido understands that it must respect the human rights of all persons as a prerequisite to conduct business activities for its sustainable growth together with the global society,” the company said.
Earlier in the week, Max Factor Arabia said it was “shocked by the comments made”, and had immediately suspended all collaborations with Alqattan.
French perfume brand M. Micallef and London-based makeup brand Chelsea Beautique also announced they would no longer be working with the influencer.
Alqattan has refused to apologise for the outburst, saying she believed the backlash was “unjustified”. The influencer has disabled comments on her Instagram, and blocked the public from viewing her Twitter account.
Image: Instagram
