L'Oréal: A dominant drugstore presence. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini, AFP/Getty Images
- Seeking an all-white sales team for Garnier Fructis styling products
- Recruiting "BBR" staff (bleu, blanc, rouge--the colors of the French flag), a known term for those with purely French heritage
- Faxing a memo that all Garnier hostesses should be 18-22, wear size 38-42, and be "BBR"
- Candidates for employment at the L'Oréal agency were said to be 38.7% minorities, but only 4.65% of those hired represented minority backgrounds.
- Employees said they were told to favor a white staff
Though company reps claimed that the requests were meant to source applicants who could speak French fluently and represent the brand eloquently, the court found that L'Oréal's racial favoritism was in violation of employment laws.
The company met its first sign of trouble last summer when it was accused of lightening Beyoncé's skin in ads she appeared in for various L'Oréal products.
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