L’Oreal subsidiary Garnier France was found guilty of racial discrimination for a 2000 shampoo campaign. The recruitment company they used, Adecco and one of its subsidiaries, Ajilon, were also found guilty of racism. The Paris Appeals Court fined the companies €30,000 each. An ex-employee of Adecco was given a three month suspended sentence. The judges found that Garnier instructed Adecco to employ only young, white females for the promotion. The code used, which was submitted in a faxed memo was “BBR” meaning “bleu-blanc-rouge” signifying the colors of the French flag; blue, white and red. The code is a racist term used to exclude Asian, Arab and black women.

The companies plan to appeal the ruling, with L’Oreal stating that it is not racist.

Interestingly in 2006, a French civil court dismissed the case brought by the French group, SOS Racisme claiming there was sufficient doubt about the companies’ guilt.