Lancôme has cancelled its promotional concert with Canto-pop singer Denise Ho Wan-sze due to ’possible safety reasons’ after receiving criticism from the Beijing newspaper Global Times on Ho’s pro-democracy stance. Lancôme is kneeling down in the face of this autocratic hegemony and we urge for a formal apology from Lancôme. Before any proper arrangement from L’Oréal, the parent company of Lancôme, we call for a global boycott of L’Oréal among all international democratic supporters.
Lancôme planned to co-organize a mini concert with Denise Ho on 19th June,2016 but soon received criticism from Global Times on 4th June, accusing Ho as Hong Kong independence movement supporter. Lancôme issued a statement on 5th June to deny Ho as its brand representative and subsequently cancelled the concert later that day. Ho expressed her regret on the termination of cooperation through her statement issued on 6th June and urged Lancôme’s France head office to give public explanation of this incident.
Denise Ho is the first Hong Kong pop singer to publicly reveal her homosexual identity and she actively participated in LGBT social movements in recent years. Ho also joined the Umbrella Movement in 2014 for civil disobedience actions. She then established Hong Kong Shield with other artists concerning democratic movements and violence repressions on protestors. Due to her political stance, Ho is blacklisted by China market.
It is not surprising that the Chinese government abuses its economic power to suppress democratic supporters. What shocks the society is that an international brand emphasizing social responsibility and women empowerment like Lancôme also kneels down to the bullying government. According to Ho’s statement, the cancellation was the sole decision made by Lancôme head office. L’Oréal shall bear all responsibility of this incident.
L’Oréal upholds “integrity, respect, coursge and transparency” as its ethical principles, and emphasizes that beauty can “enabkes all individuals to express their personalities, gain self-confidence and open up to others”. Denise Ho’s incident ia undoubtedly a great contradiction to L’Oréal’s missions. We believe that true beauty comes with liberty and conscience. Lancôme not only assaulted Denise Ho, but also assaulted Hong Kong citizens who fight for democracy for years, and all global citizens embracing democracy and liberty.
Responding to this serious threat to freedom of speech, we call for support from all international friends — to boycott L’Oréal and all its supervising products now. We urge for explanation and apology regarding this incident from L’Oréal and its promise not to carry out political censorship in the future.
Initiating organization: League of Social Democrats
Cosigned organization:
People Power
Labour Party
Civic Party
Demosistō
Hong Kong Shield
Neo Democrats
Democratic Party
Civil Human Rights Front
Reclaiming Social Work Movement