O Boticário (Portuguese pronunciation: [o botʃiˈkaɾju]) is a Brazilian cosmetics company. It has 4,070 stores in Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Guyana, Bolivia, Peru, United States, Paraguay, Japan, France, Angola, Colombia and United Arab Emirates.

O Boticário
Company typePrivate
IndustryCosmetics
Founded1977; 47 years ago (1977)
Headquarters,
Brazil
Key people
Artur Grynbaum (Chairman)
ProductsBeauty & wellness
RevenueIncrease US$ 3.7 billion (2019)
Number of employees
12,000
ParentGrupo Boticário
Websitewww.boticario.com

History

edit

O Boticário was created in 1977 as a small prescription drugstore in the city of Curitiba, capital of the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil.[1] Today the company is the world's largest perfumery and cosmetics franchising network.

O Boticário's industrial and administrative complex has 34.4 thousand square meters of floor space in the city of São José dos Pinhais in the Curitiba Metropolitan Area. It employs 1,300 people and creates approximately 10 thousand jobs through its franchising network. O Boticário's first manufacturing plant was inaugurated in 1982, with just 1 thousand square meters of floor space. Then it employed 27 people who worked to manufacture about 400 thousand items a year. O Boticário's current production exceeds 59 million units.

Fundação O Boticário

edit

In 1990, the company created the Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza (O Boticário Nature Protection Foundation), a nonprofit organization that has already sponsored 800 conservationist projects including studies, scientific research, environmental education programs and direct fauna and flora protection actions all over Brazil. The Foundation also supports the "Natural Areas Protection Program", which aims at implementing its own network of private natural heritage reserves.

The first one is the Salto Morato Private Natural Heritage Reserve, which occupies a 2,340-hectare area, in Guaraqueçaba, on the north coast of the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil. This reservation protects a significant area of the Atlantic Rainforest, besides being provided with infrastructure for scientific research, environmental education, and outdoor recreation. In November 1999, the reservation supported by Fundação O Boticário de Proteção à Natureza was declared a Natural Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Products

edit

O Boticário's product lines consist of approximately 480 items, divided into the following categories: body care, facial care, sun care, makeup, deodorizing colognes, deodorants, soaps and shampoos.

Amazonian plants such as açaí, cupuaçu, carnaúba, guaraná, cashew, and passion flower; gums extracted from algae and vegetal extracts, such as arnica and urucum, are among the active ingredients present in the brand's products.

Collaborations

edit

O Boticário joined an exclusive partnership with Netflix in November 2022 with the launch of cosmetics products inspired by the series Money Heist, Stranger Things and Sex Education.[2]

Controversy

edit

In May 2015, the company launched in Brazil a campaign titled "Toda Forma de Amor" (Every Kind of Love), made for Brazilian Valentine's Day (celebrated annually as Dia dos Namorados on 12 June, the day before the Saint Anthony of Padua festivities), the campaign presented heterosexual and homosexual couples embracing and exchanging gifts of the brand.[3] The video generated huge repercussion, mainly in social networks. The commercial, uploaded on YouTube, earned more than three million views and had more than 360,000 likes, against over 180,000 dislikes (until 6 June 2015).[4]

Among conservative sectors of society, however, the campaign had negative repercussions. There have been calls for boycotting the brand by people like pastor Silas Malafaia and homophobic statements in social networks.[5][6][7] The National Council for Self-Regulatory Advertising (Conar) has also received inunerous complaints and initiated a process to verify possible abuses against the consumer in the advertising campaign of the company.[8] On 16 July, however, Conar decided to file a lawsuit against the video. The rapporteur of the process emphasized in his vote: "Don't count on publicity to omit the reality."[9]

Boticário replied that "the proposal of the 'Couples' campaign, which was first broadcast on 24 May, is to address, with respect and sensitivity, the current resonance about the most different forms of love regardless of age, race, gender or sexual orientation—represented by the pleasure of giving the person you love a gift on Valentine's Day."[10] In an article published on the UOL Economia website, journalist James Cimino also pointed to inconsistencies in the brand's boycott movement as large multinationals—such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, HP, Intel, Facebook, The Coca-Cola Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Disney, Twitter, Visa, MasterCard, Starbucks, Nike, Xerox, Levi's, Gillette, Absolut, Amazon.com, Ray-Ban, Gap, American Airlines, Tiffany & Co., Budweiser and others—also support the LGBT movement[citation needed], but were not threatened with boycott claims.[11][12]

References

edit
  1. ^ "O BOTICÁRIO".
  2. ^ Baldioti, Fernanda. "O Boticário e Netflix se unem em parceria exclusiva e lançam produtos inspirados em séries". FashionNetwork. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  3. ^ "Boticário mostra casais gays em comercial de Dia dos Namorados". G1. 25 May 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Anúncios com amor gay geram guerra de curtidas e descurtidas". Folha de S.Paulo. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  5. ^ "Propaganda de O Boticário com gays gera polêmica e chega ao Conar". G1. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  6. ^ Fernando Scheller e Marília Neustein (3 June 2015). "Comercial de O Boticário cria guerra de opiniões". Exame. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Malafaia pede boicote a "O Boticário" após anúncio com gays". Terra. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  8. ^ Carolina Prado (3 June 2015). "Conar abre processo sobre comercial de O Boticário com casais gays após 30 reclamações". Folha de S.Paulo. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  9. ^ "Conar 'absolve' Boticário por propaganda com casais gays". G1. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  10. ^ Fernanda Grabauska (3 June 2015). "Campanha de O Boticário explora igualdade no amor e suscita debate religioso". Zero Hora. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  11. ^ James Cimino (1 June 2015). "Opinião: Quer boicotar empresas que apoiam LGBTs? Feche a conta no Facebook". UOL Economia. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Empresas apostam em comerciais com gays para 'modernizar imagem'". BBC Brasil. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
edit