YSL Beauty launches Abuse is Not Love programme in UK

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 27, 2020

Yves Saint Laurent Beauty has launched a programme called Abuse is Not Love as it works to “help eliminate intimate partner violence (IPV) which includes physical, sexual, emotional abuse as well as controlling behaviours by intimate partners”.

That’s especially important as IPV rates have increased between 30% to 60% globally since the start of the pandemic. 

The programme comes as more and more companies dive deep into ‘doing good’, something driven both by consumers expecting the brands they patronise to have ethical stances, but also by staff at the brands themselves wanting to contribute.

The company said that World Health Organisation stats show around 35% of women will experience violence in their lifetime. And to help tackle this major public health problem in the UK, it has partnered with charity group Women’s Aid.

Its targeted four-stage action plan will see YSL supporting education and prevention programmes.

That will take in The Safer Futures Project through the training of 40 school advocates over three years in the fight against IPV. And there’s also the Expect Respect Toolkit that’s a guide for teachers and professionals to teach primary school children about IPV and resolving conflict.

The company will additionally be undertaking internal training of the brand’s own teams to better understand abusive behaviours and the available resources as “the workplace is often where victims confide or show signs of abuse”. And it’s making a contribution to thought leadership projects that will see it funding academic research to develop thought-leadership projects around youth and prevention.