The PR game, according to Revlon

EWG was sounding the horn yesterday that Revlon is bending under consumer and activist pressure to remove certain yuckiness from its products (but only some). Read EWG's press release here.

It's pretty big news, no? Like, huge global cosmetics brand is finally getting with the times and cleaning up their act...

Except that Revlon doesn't seem to care as much as the rest of us. EWG's press release includes a link to this page -- basically a corporate ingredients directory, which was most likely produced to deflect heat about the toxic goop we're applying to our faces -- in reference to the Revlon's announcement. But there's no actual announcement...

Nothing under Investor Relations, where all of Revlon's corporate-level press releases live. Nothing picked up just yet by any news outlets, Internet or otherwise. So is Revlon even considering this news-worthy?

If actions speak louder than words, the presence of this line from the Revlon Ingredients page says it all:

"Note, that some of these ingredients have been sensationalized by reports in the press or on the internet as having potential safety concerns. "

Sensationalized. As in, you tree-hugger consumer activist folks are blowing things out of proportion. Stop making things up. Stop pretending that your cancer is anyone else's fault besides your own (I actually read some bonehead comment on FB the other day that cancer patients obviously have bad genes. Major face palm).

Here's another reason why I don't get the sense that playing nice with the likes of EWG is a priority for Revlon. It's holiday season. Year-end. Is anyone even doing any actual work at work still? Unless you're Stephen Colbert or the makers of Serial, this is probably the slowest news week of the year. That is, until next week.

So there is no news going anywhere about anything right now. If Revlon gave two hoots about announcing plans to eliminate some toxic ingredients, don't you think they'd do it in a way that maximizes the end benefit to the company?

EWG had to have gotten permission to issue its own release about Revlon, and I'm guessing the only way it happened was for Revlon to dictate the terms. Like, we're not highlighting this ourselves. No quotes or interviews. No nothing about anything. Never happened.

This of course is complete speculation. But a company as big as Revlon does nothing that's not deliberate, carefully thought out. And if this is their PR game, it could use a little pick-me-up.

Yours in health,
Jazzy

Glow in the dark baby

Hey! I had a post all lined up but didn't finish it so here we are...I was feeling a bit of a sellout last week.  I had the good fortune of attending a huge conference where, among other things, a big local pharmaceutical company was promoting its work. Come visit the booth and see our shtick and get free museum passes.

I do love free things. It's a diehard habit of growing up in a family that leaned heavily in the have-not direction. Anyway, I did what I was told and went to the booth and listened to the nice promo girl tell me all about the new alcoholic blend beverage this company was making using its very own pigments. Here, shake the bottle and watch the pixie dust swirl around.

Wait, what?

I hit the brakes hard. Pigments? Yes, pigments. Made by our chemicals division. In a beverage. That you drink.

I proceeded to ask what seemed to be the only obvious follow-up questions. What IS this metallic sparkly stuff, and how do I know it's safe? What else do these pigments go into?

I wasn't surprised by the very corporate answer I got in return. It's all tested, in our labs. The pigments go into a lot of things, like nail polish and car paint and all sorts of stuff.

By now I'm backing away slowly, looking around to see if anyone else has noticed how wack this whole thing is. Like, COMPLETELY WACK. This is a pharmaceutical company, serving the life sciences industry, that has as one of its missions to treat infertility. Seriously,  opposite this display of toxic glittery winestuff was a photo display about the 'beauty of pregnancy' that every woman deserves to experience. How's that for a co-winky-dink?

I got my free museum passes and hightailed it out of there. And I'm still a little in shock. I mean, it's like the left hand is creating the very problem the right hand is out to solve.

Money talks in this world. That's the only clear point in a scenario where a life-sciences company is putting out products containing very probably toxic ingredients.

I know it's the holidays, but please, whatever you drink this season, DON'T DRINK THE GLITTER.

Yours,
Jazzy

The other side

How was your Thanksgiving? I'm still putting my house back together, with generous breaks here and there to savor the last of the amazing chocolate pecan something-who-the-hell-cares-what-its-called-just-give-it-here-so-I-can-inhale-it that my sister-in-law made.

For some of you, it's Shave Day. All that sh*t that's been growing on your faces (maybe your legs? stranger things have happened) for all of November, it came off today.  So in honor of all your hairiness, I'm reviewing the Alba Botanica Shave Cream that I mentioned in a post about this time last month. Seems right.

Product reviews are by far the favorite thing here, which is great. I love trying new things and I love telling folks how it is. 

Happy Monday,
Jazzy