L’Oréal Israel denied allegations that Israeli influencers were asked to remove posts about the war, Israeli soldiers, released hostages and their families from their Instagram feeds before being approved for campaigns and events with brands owned by the global cosmetics giant.
The claims surfaced after Lancôme, a L’Oréal-owned skin care and beauty brand, launched a new beauty category in Israel last week with a high-profile event attended by Israeli celebrities and influencers, including Miri Bohadana, Adi Himelbloy, Lea Schenirer, Yael Goldman, Lea Yanai and Shiraz Tal.
L’Oréal is one of the world’s largest cosmetics companies, with brands including Garnier, Vichy, Maybelline, YSL Beauty, L’Oréal Paris and CeraVe.
In Israel’s entertainment industry, talent agencies say local influencers and celebrities who work with major international companies often need approval from the company’s global offices before appearing in campaigns or events. Industry figures told ynet’s sister publication Pplus that since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, L’Oréal has been especially sensitive to content connected to the war, IDF soldiers, released hostages and their families, with material Israelis often view as advocacy treated by the company as “political.”
Humanz, an Israeli influencer marketing platform, manages L’Oréal’s influencer activity in Israel, including events and social media campaigns, in coordination with local talent agencies.
Entertainment industry sources said representatives for the brand asked that Israeli influencers’ Instagram feeds be “without politics,” meaning free of advocacy content that many had posted at the beginning of the war, including photos of released hostages, explanatory videos and content related to the IDF.
According to the sources, the request applied ahead of last week’s Lancôme event and to previous events and campaigns over the past 2 1/2 years. Those seeking approval from L’Oréal, they said, were expected to present a feed clean of war-related content or risk being excluded.
“They don’t want to see uniforms in the feed, no politics,” one talent agent said. Another added: “If you want to submit talent to the client, they ask that the feed be clean of army or war content. In some cases, you can archive the post and restore it after the brand approves them.”
A review of Instagram feeds belonging to some attendees at the Lancôme event, as well as influencers involved in the brand’s ongoing activity in Israel, showed that content related to the war or released hostages had largely disappeared.
The feed of Dancing With the Stars judge and dancer Lea Yanai, whose sister Moran Stella Yanai was released from Hamas captivity after 54 days, appeared to show no remaining trace of war-related posts. Similar changes were visible on the feed of Lea Schenirer, who had frequently attended Friday gatherings at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and posted content supporting hostage families.
One talent manager said some clients refused to remove such content. “I have talents who didn’t agree to take this content down from their feed,” the manager said. “I also wouldn’t want them to take it down, but I have to reflect the situation to them.”
Another agent told Pplus that she passed L’Oréal’s request to several clients, some of whom refused outright. “There are those who didn’t post such content in the first place and had no problem participating in the event or campaigns, and there are those who had to remove posts,” the agent said. “At the end of the day, this is their livelihood.”
Another industry source said posts about released hostages, IDF soldiers and the Oct. 7 attack had been removed because of the brand’s condition. “If you want to be part of an event like this or work with the brand, the talent is not allowed to do advocacy or express an opinion,” the person said. “That is the brand’s condition. It’s insane.”
L’Oréal Israel denied setting such requirements. “L’Oréal has never made demands of this kind of its partners, including content creators,” the company said. “If any such instructions were conveyed to content creators, they were not requested by L’Oréal and were made without our knowledge or consent.”
The company said it does not take positions on political issues in any country where it operates and “fully supports the freedom of expression of content creators.”
L’Oréal said its relationships with influencers are governed only by its global values charter for working with influencers and content creators, which applies in all countries where the group operates and is publicly available on the company’s global website.
“We view content creators as meaningful partners who play an important role in conveying our vision and creating a connection with our consumers, including during these days,” the company said.
Humanz said it works with major global corporations and conducts monitoring and analysis of content creators’ profiles to ensure professional standards, but said that process is not meant to interfere with creators’ personal content or values.
“In any case, in accordance with the professional standards under which we operate, we will examine whether any mistake was made in our judgment and, if necessary, clarify our procedures so that such a mistake, if it occurred, will not happen again,” Humanz said. “We view content creators as partners and fully support their personal voice.”
L’Oréal’s global group had not responded by publication time.
No response was received from Schenirer. The Liat & Roberto agency, which represents Yanai, also did not respond.