L’Oreal USA Has Purchased Carols Daughter To Help Them Reach The Multicultural Market

My first thoughts on this story: another one bites the dust! L’Oreal USA announced in a press release today that they have signed a definitive agreement to purchase Carol’s Daughter, with a few legal ramifications left to seal the deal.

If you watch Lisa’s video on her FaceBook page, she seems pretty upbeat about the sale and about the prospects of the company encouraging her supporters to hold her hand through the process.

I knew I had to write this post and get your thoughts on it, because to be honest I have no idea what to type or even to say. L’Oreal says they want to reach a ‘multicultural customer base’ and by that they must mean people of color because typically that’s just fancy talk for black.

Is that bad? How is the brand even going to look? Will it still be Carol’s Daughter? Will the label now say L’Oreal? Help me to make sense of what the future could hold for this company that was established in a black kitchen with our hair in mind?

L’Oreal USA made the announcement with the following:

“Carol’s Daughter possesses an expertise in the multi-cultural consumer segment, a rapidly expanding market that represents an important growth opportunity in the beauty industry,” said Frederic Roze, president and CEO of L’Oreal USA. “This acquisition will enable L’Oreal USA to build a new dedicated multi-cultural beauty division as part of our Consumer Products business, and strengthen the company’s position in this dynamic market.”

Lisa said:

“L’Oreal has a proven track record of helping established companies achieve their full potential while staying true to the core of the brand and they have an understanding of the future of multi-cultural beauty. I could not be more proud to begin this next chapter of the Carol’s Daughter brand with them,” said Price in a statement.

My only hope for Lisa is that she is able to maintain the authenticity of her brand during the transition and that she does not allow the quality and the history of what she has created get sucked into a business model that cares nothing about her consumer.

What do you ladies think? It’s hard not to see it as a sell out, but from a business perspective, it might have been the only thing that could have saved the company and pushed it further. Comment below!