Sephora deactivates thousands of Asian customers’ accounts due to racial stereotype: suit Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News Sephora defended its efforts to combat reselling, which it calls ‘a pervasive issue.’ It’s a case of racial e-profiling. Cosmetics giant Sephora has deactivated the online accounts of Asian customers due to its racist belief they take advantage of discount sales to buy beauty products in bulk and resale them for a profit, a class-action suit charges. “This is an egregious example of a retailer singling out individuals based on racial stereotypes,” said attorney Doug Wigdor. The suit, brought by four women of Chinese descent, stems from Sephora’s decision to shut down numerous accounts during a 20% sale earlier this month due to reselling, which it called “a pervasive issue.” But that was only part of the story, the Manhattan Federal Court suit charges. Mariela Lombard/for New York Daily News A group of Asian customers claims that the cosmetics company’s decision was racist. The deactivated accounts were almost exclusively associated with email addresses or names that appeared to signify Asian ethnicity, or tied to Web domains originating from Asia, documents charge. Many users still have not been able to reactivate their accounts despite pleas they don’t hustle beauty products on the black market, documents claim. [...] newsnyork/sephora-deactivates-thousands-of-asian-customers-accounts-due-to-racial-stereotype-suit/
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 22:30:36 +0000