Breaking News: MAC Decides Not to Ship Rodarte Collection!

The end to the whole MAC-Rodarte saga has come. In my previous posts HERE and HERE, I talked first about how and why the collection was in bad taste (in my opinion at least), and in the second post, I talked about what concrete steps we can take to help the women of Juarez. I thought the controversy died down when MAC said they would donate all proceeds to charities to help the women of Juarez, but MAC has gone one step further.

MAC has just posted on their Facebook wall about half an hour ago that they would not be shipping out the Rodarte Collection.

Here is the text of the Facebook wall post:

M·A·C Decides Not to Ship M·A·C Rodarte Makeup Collection Out of Respect for Women & Girls of Juárez and their Families
by MAC Cosmetics on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 5:27pm

This decision will not impact M·A·C 's commitment to donate all of its projected profits from the collection to benefit the women and girls of Juarez.

Out of respect for the people of Mexico, the women and girls of Juarez and their families, as well as our M·A·C Mexican staff and colleagues, M·A·C has made the decision not to ship the M·A·C Rodarte limited edition makeup collection. This decision will have no impact on M·A·C's commitment to donate all of its projected global profits from this collection to local and international groups that work to improve the lives of the women and girls of Juarez. We are currently conducting due diligence to ensure we donate to organizations with a proven record of directly supporting the women and girls of Juarez.

M·A·C and Rodarte are deeply and sincerely sorry and we apologize to everyone we offended. We have listened very closely to the feedback of concerned global citizens. We are doing our very best to right this wrong. The essence of M·A·C is to give back and care for the community and Rodarte is committed to using creativity for positive social change. We are grateful for the opportunity to use what we have learned to raise awareness on this important issue.

Click HERE to see the actual Facebook note that MAC put up on it's wall.

I was satisfied when MAC offered to donate all proceeds to charities, because they would then no longer be profiting from the controversy they caused, and most of the controversy died down after they announced that. So this is a step I certainly didn't anticipate! While I am happy they are pulling the collection, I hope this pulling of the collection doesn't result in them donating any less!

Hai, my name is Drama, I iz refuze to die!
(Image from the Independent, credited to MAC)
(Can you tell I'm weary of being slammed for expressing my own opinions on this issue?)

At the same time, (being a girl with a major in Economics and a masters in Management), a side of me cynically wonders if MAC just plans to repackage the items, rename them, and re-release them in another collection. If this is the case, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth, because it would seem like they are still trying to make money off these items. Bear in mind that the collection was slated to launch in September, so these collection items would already have been manufactured a long time before, and if they weren't sold, it would mean a dip in MAC's profits.

I can't help but wonder if this is their way of still trying to turn a profit from these items by re-selling them under another name. Furthermore, in place of the planned launch of the collection that would see all profits go to charity, MAC would now just donate an arbitrary amount to charity. From what I've been told, MAC is donating the "projected profits" from the collection, and when it comes to projecting profits from such a controversial collection, your guess is as good as mine. The exact amount to donate would then just be a number of MAC's choosing, and this makes me feel uncomfortable.

If this is what they are going to do, re-sell the products under another name and make money from them, while just choosing an arbitrary amount to give to charity (anyone remember the $100,000 they initially offered?), then I just hope that they donate a decent amount (not just $100,000!). However at the same time I do see how pulling the entire collection altogether is more considerate for MAC employees with Mexican ties or heritage - how is a MAC salesgirl with Mexican relatives going to sell this collection at the counter? It would be tough for her, and I imagine she'd rather not have to sell the collection altogether.

So I guess my feelings on this issue are somewhat ambivalent. I'm happy they're not shipping the collection, but I do have concerns about how much they'll be donating to charity. What are your thoughts on the issue?