Wet n Wild is NOT cruelty free

Wet n Wild have recently been outed as a company that tests on animals. Much of the outrage has been caused by the fact that the brand uses its cruelty free status as a major selling point and brand definer.

Wet n Wild, founded in Los Angeles, recently started selling their product lines in China which requires all beauty products to be tested on animals by law.

An article from PETA claims that whilst Wet n Wild are now selling in China, the company remains cruelty free, arguing their products have not been tested on animals there.

“The company wet n wild has expanded sales of its products to China but remains cruelty-free. Its products have not been tested on animals there, and it has worked with PETA to take the additional steps required to ensure that no tests on animals will be conducted for its products in the future.” (peta.org)

As such, Wet n Wild has managed to stay on PETA’s Beauty Without Bunnies program. PETA claims there’s a subcategory of beauty products called “non-special use” cosmetics, which essentially means the products do not have a function. This is very similar to the way L’Oréal Paris skirt around their shady animal testing policies. Ultimately, PETA’s response is unsatisfactory.

Wet n Wild’s cruelty free status came into jeopardy when Cruelty Free Kitty posted an article titled “Wet n Wild Caught Lying About Being Cruelty-Free and Secretly Selling in China.” The post shows images of a Wet n Wild display in a Shanghai branch of Watsons, a chain health and beauty store found across Asia. Despite the insistence that China is changing its regulations, the revised laws will not going into effect until at least next year (2020).

Wet n Wild told Revelist the following:

“Wet N Wild is a global brand for beauty lovers, inclusive of all ages, ethnicities, skin colors, ideologies, and economic statuses. Cruelty-free has and will remain a key pillar of our brand.” (revelist.com)

Since the controversy, Wet n Wild has repeatedly stated that they are working with the Chinese government to remain cruelty free – however, there is no evidence of the brand ignoring and altering legislation and as we already know, any legislation that may take place will not happen until next year.

The argument Wet n Wild has detailed for their cruelty free status to remain is that their products are produced domestically (in China) and therefore adhere to a law that states domestic, non-special use cosmetics do not require animal testing. Wet n Wild claim this law has been in place since 2014, but that is simply not true.

Despite all the confusion, Wet n Wild’s cruelty free status is no longer satisfactory. They have provided little evidence as to how they are avoiding China’s mandatory testing laws and therefore seem fabricated. Wet n Wild are not cruelty free.

In terms of their vegan friendly status, many of the product formulations from Wet n Wild are manufactured without the use of animal products, however, I do not consider any products tested on animals to be vegan friendly. In order to avoid waste, I am going to use the Wet n Wild products I have in my collection but I will not purchase anything further from them.

I will be removing Wet n Wild from all Friendly and Free cruelty free brands list. Let me know how you feel about the company in the comments below.

Header image courtesy of Freepik