Sephora controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
2019
Racial-profiling allegation
Singer SZA accused a Sephora store of racial profiling. The company later announced diversity training across its stores in the United States.
2019
Sunday Riley settles with the FTC over fake reviews
Settlement
Sunday Riley settled with the FTC over reports that it directed employees to post fake product reviews on Sephora's website. The settlement bars fake reviews and requires the company to identify endorsers and their connections and instruct staff on disclosure responsibilities.
Source excerpt
Sunday Riley has settled with the FTC over reports that it ordered employees to post fake reviews on Sephora's website in a bid to boost sales.
The settlement unsurprisingly bars Sunday Riley from posting fake reviews, but also requires that it clearly identify endorsers (and their connections), and asks it to "instruct" staff on their own disclosure responsibilities.
2019
Sephora disclosed a customer data breach in Southeast Asia
Issue disclosure
On 5 August 2019, Sephora emailed customers in Southeast Asia that it had become aware of a data breach affecting customer data. The article says customer names, birth dates, gender, email addresses, encrypted passwords, and beauty-preference data were believed to have been accessed; it also reports Sephora said no credit card information was accessed and it had no reason to believe personal data had been misused.
Company response
Apology — Sephora
a sincere written apology to its customers for the breach
Remediation — Sephora
We have cancelled all existing passwords for customer accounts and we have thoroughly reviewed our security systems.
Source excerpt
On Monday, 5th August 2019, the CEO of Sephora, Alia Gogi, emailed Sephora customers in South East Asia, that Sephora had become aware of a data breach affecting customer data in South East Asia, which (they estimate), occurred sometime during the preceding fortnight.
In the same email, the CEO then went on to provide detail on the personal information that Sephora believe has been wrongfully accessed: customer first and last name, date of birth, gender, email address, encrypted password, and data related to beauty preferences.
In the CEO’s email, Sephora reassured customers that, "no credit card information was accessed," and they have, "no reason to believe that any personal data has been misused."
2014
Customer-account racial discrimination lawsuit
Four customers filed a class action alleging that Sephora disabled rewards accounts associated with Chinese email domains while describing the action as anti-resale enforcement.