Recent Social Issues

One of the most recent controversies involved M.A.C.  One of their spokeswomen, Sandra Bernhard, was the lead in an online advertisement for M.A.C and said somethings that were very offensive to a lot of the brands customers.  The brand agreed that a lot of the statements were a bad representation of the Estee Lauder brand as a whole and redid the video to exclude the political statements.  I have posted a link to the original video so you can watch it for yourself.  The Estee Lauder corporation eventually removed the video (although it is still on youtube) and publicly apologized.

Another controversy surrounding the company involves Ronald Lauder.  He is partly Jewish and supports Israel activities.  Pro-palestinian activists started to boycott the brand because of its support to Israel.  They then formed the "Estee Slaughter" campaign which came up with products like bloody hand cream and kill me lip bomb.  They gave out free samples of these products while boycotting a Macy's store.  I have attached the full article.

Estee Lauder did not make any comments that I could find about this issue.  They should have done more to understand other's concerns.

http://www.quitpalestine.org/esteeslaughter/estee.html

These are just some of the more recent issues that have been in the media with Estee Lauder, but over the years there have been many other little controversies surrounding the company.  When there is a company with such power as Estee Lauder, issues with the public are inevitable.

Introduction to the Estee Lauder Mega-Brand

Lets begin by clearing up any confusion…

Estee Lauder is the parent company to many other brands, but Estee Lauder is also an entity on its own.

The Estee Lauder umbrella consists of about 27 brands (this can change due to discontinued cosmetic lines or fragrances).  It is a publicly traded company.

Some of the most well known brands include Estee Lauder, Clinique, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Aveda and Origins.  Others that might not be so well known include Ojon, Bumble and Bumble, DKNY fragrance, Smashbox, Stila and Tom Ford beauty.

The companies headquarters is in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.  This seems like a very smart decision for them since a lot of what is new in fashion and beauty begins in New York City.

The company was begun by Estee Lauder herself.  She begun with a fragrance called Youth Dew.  She built her brand on her amazing selling skills and with her great imagination.  Estee Lauder finally convinced Saks Fifth Avenue to allow her to sell her perfume in their store, in which they gave her the worst spot on the sales floor.  Rumor has it that she “accidentally” spilled a bottle of Youth Dew on the floor, which then attracted customers to purchase her perfume and it became and instant success.  She passed away in 2004, and her company was passed on to her family members.

The Lauder family controls about 70% of the current Estee Lauder brand, which is pretty remarkable.  Leonard Lauder, William Lauder, and Aerin Lauder are just three of the remaining family members that help to control the brand.  

Suprisingly the CEO of the company is not a family member.  His name is  Fabrizio Freda and he has been CEO since 2009.  He has a great background in cosmetics and had worked for Estee Lauder for many years before being promoted to CEO.  I am including a link that has some great information on him straight from the Estee Lauder website.

http://www.elcompanies.com/the_company/fabrizio_freda.php

About me and my blog!

This is my new blog where I will be reporting on the Estee Lauder Companies.  Estee Lauder is a huge umbrella company that consists of many different brands.  Some of these brands include Clinique, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, etc…  I chose this company to research because I currently work at Clinique and I thought this would be a great way to learn more about the company I work for.

Now that I explained that, let me tell you about myself…

 My name is Megan and I am about to turn 21.  I am a Fashion Merchandising major at Middle Tennessee State University.  This project is for my Fashion Branding class.  I think this assignment is a great way for us to learn about a company and put our research into a medium that is very applicable to my generation.   I have a brother that lives in Nashville that also goes to MTSU, so I visit him in Nashville as often as possible.  I love living in the Nashville area and being able to enjoy all of the things that come with living here.

I look forward to posting all of my findings on here on a regular basis!