Ulta Beauty Accused Of Racial Profiling

Ulta Beauty is a popular cosmetics store that sells everything from makeup to hair tools and skincare products. Over the past week, there have been accusations against the store of racial profiling. Some of the store’s employees have made claims that the company encourages its workers to racially profile customers by following them around the store in an effort to ensure they didn’t steal any products. Customers have also claimed to have been targeted by Ulta employees because of their race and followed around the store while they shopped, according to Today.

Estée Laundry is a popular beauty product blogger who recently shared the story of makeup artist Adeola Ash — a makeup artist who often shares her favorite products and looks on Instagram. Ash also happens to be African American and says that she had a negative experience during a trip to Ulta that made her not want to return to the store. Ash said that on this particular visit, she was one of only two customers in the store. She said she was very obviously being closely followed by an employee as she moved throughout the store looking at products, according to Today.

In addition, a former Ulta employee also came forward to claim that they stopped working at the beauty store because they felt they were being encouraged to racially profile African American customers.

“I worked for Ulta years ago and quit because they would literally pull cashiers from the front to follow black customers around as soon as they walked through the door. During a loss prevention corporate meeting they literally encouraged us to racially profile,” the individual said, per Today.

Other former employees of the beauty chain confirmed these reports, saying that it wasn’t just African American customers they were encouraged to racially profile but Hispanics as well.

Ulta released a statement regarding the accusations against them and claimed that they have on-going training sessions for their employees about diversity and inclusion.

beauty industry watchdog accounts @HereForTheTea2 and @EsteeLaundry brought to light multiple anonymous accounts from Ulta Beauty employees claiming they were encouraged to racially profile customers,#occupy #independent #equalityhttps://t.co/kkV3L1nK41

— Negotiamini Media (@negotiamini) August 14, 2019

“These accounts are disappointing and contrary to our training and policies. We stand for equality, inclusivity and acceptance and strive to create a space that is welcoming to all. That is why we have our associates participate in ongoing trainings on diversity and inclusion. This is our responsibility and we take it seriously.”

Despite the beauty giant’s claims that they are working hard to prevent such experiences from occurring in the future, many customers are still not satisfied. Social media users have been calling out the brand online, asking them to provide further information about what exact steps they are taking to avoid racial profiling in their stores.