CoverGirl becomes biggest makeup brand to receive cruelty-free Leaping Bunny logo

The brand also announced a partnership dedicated to ending animal testing for cosmetics globally

CoverGirl cosmetics is now certified completely cruelty-free - making it the biggest beauty brand to earn the Leaping Bunny logo.

To be awarded the globally-recognised Leaping Bunny certification, presented by Cruelty Free International, a brand must eliminate animal testing from every level of product production - including in all ingredients and suppliers.

“No other certification program has the rigour that seeks to completely eliminate animal testing from a brand’s supply chain - it certifies that no CoverGirl products or ingredients are tested on animals, either by CoverGirl or its suppliers,” the press release states.

In addition to passing the “rigorous process,” the drugstore beauty brand will also have to undergo ongoing checks to ensure it is maintaining cruelty-free production.

Ukonwa Ojo, chief marketing officer of consumer beauty for CoverGirl’s parent company Coty, reiterated the brand’s dedication to leading the way to a cruelty-free beauty industry in the press release.

She said: “Consumers expect brands to be leaders for positive change so today CoverGirl is taking a stand about making cruelty-free cosmetics a mainstream reality.”

And the company hopes CoverGirl's certification proves to other cosmetic brands of similar size that it is possible to create products without relying on animal cruelty.

“If we can do it with our size and with our capability and with our complexity … every brand can do this,” Ojo explained.

Coty also expressed its commitment to making “at least one more of its brands” certified with the Leaping Bunny by 2020, as well as a partnership with CFI to “end animal testing for cosmetics globally.”

The CoverGirl products featuring the logo are expected to be available later this year - but all products currently available are already part of the initiative.

Previously, the Leaping Bunny logo, the gold standard of cruelty-free cosmetics, was typically only found on smaller brands, which are more easily able to track the production process to ensure cruelty-free products.

The news follows a similar announcement from Unilever, the parent company of Dove, Axe and Vaseline, which revealed in October that it supports a “global ban” on animal-tested cosmetics.