MAC and Target in legal battle

Most of you would already know this, but in case you have been living under a rock, a couple of months ago Target Australia started selling MAC Cosmetics at selected stores as part of it's Designers for Target range.

The cosmetics were being sold at highly discounted prices (some things 40-50% off) and a lot of people were suspicious of whether the products might have been fake. At the time Target denied all claims that the products were not authentic, despite claims from many long-time MAC users that they could see differences in the products. MAC also claimed that they had not authorised the supply of any of their products to Target Australia.

We sort of stopped hearing about it for a while after that. Until this week that is. Over the last couple of days Estee Lauder, parent company of MAC, released a statement claiming that extensive testing in their US laboratories had determined that the products being sold in Target were Counterfeit.

While Target continues to deny the claims, they have removed all MAC products from their shelves and their website.

Target has also confirmed it is now involved in legal proceedings with Estee Lauder, although no details have been made available.

While I never purchased any of the products myself, I did believe they were real. Naive I guess, but I really didn't think a retailer as big as Target would do something like that. I assumed they would have known they couldn't get away with it, and therefore wouldn't dare do it. But alas, evidence would now seem to suggest that I was wrong.

I am highly disappointed in Target. It is hard enough to find affordable cosmetics in Australia and then a massive, trusted retailer goes and does something like this. I wouldn't be surprised if big brand cosmetics companies such as MAC begin to be much more reluctant to offer deals on their products in conjunction with larger retailers now. This can only be bad news for the Australian consumer.

On this note, I would like to draw attention to an excellent campaign being run by llamasqua, to increase competition in the Australian beauty market and drive prices down. Anyone whose ever bought make-up in Australia will know how unbelievably overpriced it can be here. Up to double sometimes almost triple what you would pay in the US or Europe (even taking into consideration the exchange rate), so a campaign like this can only be good.

Llamasqua has significantly reduced the price of it's own beauty products, and there have been rumours other high-end make-up brands are planning to follow suit. To join the campaign please sign the petition HERE.

While you're on the website you can also check out their new line Generation Q, which was released this week.

Until next time, xxx

Llamasqua Slogan in their fight for cheaper beauty products in Australia.