Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Reckitt, SC Johnson, Henkel: Why these big brands aren’t endorsed in our cruelty-free guide. 

13th February 2025

There are 5 companies who have a large monopoly on household cleaning brands that you might find in UK supermarkets. You won’t find any of them in our Compassionate Shopping Guide, though – why not? What are their animal testing policies? Let’s take a deeper look at their policies and statements…

Unilever

Unilever have a comprehensive statement regarding animal testing on their website where they say they are committed to finding alternatives to animal testing and do not conduct or fund any animal tests. However, they also state the following:

“Occasionally, across Unilever’s broader portfolio of brands, some ingredients that we use must still be tested by suppliers by law, to comply with regulatory requirements in some markets; and some government authorities test certain products on animals as part of their regulations.”

This means that they may choose to use ingredients that have been recently tested on animals, and they choose to sell their products into markets knowing that they will be tested on animals.

Household brands owned by Unilever include, Cif, Comfort, Domestos, Persil and Surf.  They also own brands such as Dove, Lynx, Radox, Simple, Sure, Tresemme and Vaseline.

https://www.unilever.com/files/glo-alternative-approaches-to-animal-testing.pdf

Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble state that they are committed to their cruelty-free journey and that they advocate for the regulatory acceptance of non-animal testing methods. They have a lot of information on their website about their work on this. But they also state the below: 

“P&G no longer animal tests any consumer product unless required by law and we are committed to making animal testing obsolete.”

This is key, unfortunately, as it means that Procter & Gamble still choose to create or sell products in a way that means they may be tested on animals.

Household brands owned by Procter & Gamble include, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Bold, Daz, Fairy, Febreze, Flash, Lenor and Viakal. They also own brands such as Aussie, Gilette, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Olay, Old Spice, Oral B, and Pantene.

https://www.pg.co.uk/cruelty-free/achievements/

SC Johnson

SC Johnson state that they want to be transparent about when animal testing is required for their products. They also state that they choose non-animal testing methods wherever possible, and look forward to a day when there’s no more animal testing. 

However, their statement includes the following:

“We must comply with legal requirements in countries that require testing for certain products.”

Unfortunately, this means that SC Johnson is not a cruelty-free company.

Household brands owned by SC Johnson include, Glade, Duck, Mr Muscle, Pledge, Ecover and Raid.

https://www.scjohnson.com/en/newsroom/statements/sc-johnson-point-of-view-on-animal-testing

Reckitt

Reckitt, unlike some of the other companies we’ve looked at in this article, are straight to the point in their policy pages. Whilst they state they are in support of a worldwide ban on cosmetic product testing, their overall policy contains the below:

“RB products must comply with the regulations in countries where they are marketed, and this may on limited occasions require animal studies to support the safety or efficacy of certain ingredients and/or products. It is our policy not to conduct or commission tests unless required by government agencies or where RB is ethically obliged to ensure the safety and efficacy of our infant nutrition products.”

They also add, “RB’s pest control business plays a key role in public health management and in support of this limited tests on rodents and insects may be conducted to confirm the efficacy of innovative pest control products.”

This means that Reckitt acknowledges that its products are not cruelty-free.

Household brands owned by Reckitt include, Air Wick, Calgon, Cillit Bang, Finish, Harpic, Lysol, Mortein, Vanish and, Woolite. They also own brands such as Clearasil, Dettol and Veet.

https://www.reckitt.com/media/5833/rb-animal-testing-policy-2019.pdf

Henkel

Henkel are very transparent on their website about their stance on animal testing. Whilst they have committed to not testing their products on animals, they also confirm the following:

“Unfortunately, we cannot claim that animal testing no longer plays any role at all. This is because there are some countries where animal testing is still mandatory to obtain market and/or regulatory approval for cosmetic products such as China.”

This means that Henkel have chosen to sell their products into markets knowing that they will be tested on animals.

Household brands owned by Henkel include Colour Catcher, Dylon, Oust and Vim. They also own brands such as Schwarzkopf and got2b.

https://www.henkel.com/our-businesses/henkel-consumer-brands/animal-testing-cosmetic-products