The Bunny is a symbol that you may find stamped on your cosmetic, skin care, personal hygiene or household products labels. It signifies that the company that manufactured the product does not perform any testing on animals.
There are only 3 bunny logos a cruelty-free shopper should trust. The first step is therefore recognizing the logo: if it’s not one of the 3 logos below, proceed with caution!
Many companies use arbitrary illustrations of rabbits to indicate that their product is cruelty-free. While this doesn’t mean the company in question isn’t truly cruelty-free, you will have to research it.
The 3 bunny logos you can trust are the following: the Leaping Bunny logo, PETA’s cruelty-free logo, and the Choose Cruelty-Free logo (independent Australian organization; especially look for this symbol if you live in Australia!). Any other symbol or logo of a bunny is unofficial and has not been accredited by a reputable cruelty-free organization.
If the product you’re looking at is displaying one of these 3 trustworthy logos, the next step is to verify its authenticity by searching for the company in the organization’s online database. Although it’s a rare occurrence, some companies can and will display official logos unlawfully and without being certified by the organization! Here are links to each database:
• Leaping Bunny Compassionate Shopping Guide
• PETA’s Cruelty-Free Company Search
• Choose Cruelty-Free List
If the logo on the packaging is not the Leaping Bunny’s, PETA’s, or from Choose Cruelty-Free, the logo is a fake. If the packaging displays one of these logos but you can’t find the company in the organization’s database (linked above), it’s also a fake. And always remember that a company can be cruelty-free even without displaying any logo.
YASOU proudly is Leaping Bunny certified. The Leaping Bunny signifies that the product is made by a company that adheres to the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals, developed by the Coalition for Consumer Information on cosmetics, a coalition of animal protection groups. The CCIC’s purpose is to promote a “cruelty-free” standard and logo. The coalition includes six U.S groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, as well as animal protection groups in Canada and Europe. The Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals is a pledge by a company not to conduct or commission animal testing of their product/ingredients, after the date of the agreement.
Companies that take the pledge and wish to use the logo must be licensed and a fee is required. The fee is used to fund an independent audit of the company’s compliance with the standard. Companies may also make this pledge without using the logo, but if they don’t use the logo, there is no independent verification that they are meeting the pledge. The CCIC website (www.leapingbunny.org) lists the companies who meet the standards, indicating which ones are authorized to use the logo. Only those who use the logo are verified by CCIC. Companies using the logo agree to be audited once every three years by an independent assessor, or, in the case of smaller companies, a “spot-check,” commissioned by the CCIC and performed by an accredited auditor.
As you can see there are rules/pledges to become certified and there are also severe consequences should these rules/pledges be broken. We urge you to take the time to examine your packaging/labels, read your ingredients and look for one of the above bunny’s because if a product cares enough to create products that have not been tested on animals, it’s a sure bet they care enough about creating ethical products that are good for you and your loved ones.
YASOU!