L'Oréal Wanted Thin, White Women For Jobs

L'Oréal has been found guilty of racial discrimation after it hinted that it only wanted young, white women to sell its shampoo in France.

L'Oréal and Adecco were found guilty of looking for white people to sell the products

France's highest court heard how a fax was sent saying Garnier hostesses, part of L'Oréal's beauty division, should be 18 to 22 years old, size 8 to 12 and "BBR".

BBR or "bleu, blanc, rouge" are the colours of the French flag - widely understood to be a code for white, French people born to white, French parents.

Prosecutors said Garnier wanted to exclude ethnic minority candidates because they would be less likely to sell its shampoo in French shops.

The fax was sent by an employee of recruitment company Adecco, who was also found guilty of racial discrimation and fined £25.5k.

Thérèse Coulange, who sent the fax, said that she had merely wanted hostesses able to "express themselves correctly in French".

But other employees said that they were given oral instructions to favour white sales staff.

Before the fax was sent out, Adecco had been offering a pool of candidates in which 39% were from ethnic minority backgrounds.

But only around 5% of the total number hired were black, Asian or Arab.

The Paris Appeal Court fined both L'Oréal and Adecco £25,500 and ordered them to pay the same again to SOS Racisme, who have been fighting the case for three years.

The judgment is another blow to L'Oréal's image, despite the company spending millions on stars such as Penelope Cruz and Claudia Shiffer to promote their brand.

It also follows last year's denials from L'Oréal executives that they lightened singer Beyoncé Knowles's skin for an advertising campaign.

Garnier's former managing director Laurent Dubois told a lower court that he had "never given the slightest order to discriminate against anyone" and described racial prejudice as "foreign to L'Oréal's genes".

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