The Chickens Wouldn't Leave Unilever Alone

The WWD Beauty CEO Summit is one of the beauty industry’s biggest annual gatherings. It’s three days of keynotes, panels, and networking at The Breakers, and it draws the CEOs and presidents of some of the world’s most major brands. This year’s speaker list included the heads of L’Oreal USA, Revlon, Estée Lauder, Ulta Beauty, and Unilever, among dozens of others. The summit’s theme was “The Innovation Imperative.” Advocates outside had a simpler message: before talking about the future, honor the promises you already made.

So while Unilever's top executives gathered inside for the WWD Beauty CEO Summit, advocates planted themselves at the entrance in inflatable chicken suits and stayed put. Cars rubbernecked to see what the deal was. Attendees gawked and openly stared. Security came by to check things out. And on day one of a three-day action, the thing every organizer hopes for actually happened: the people inside that building could not pretend to ignore our protests.

A promise made, a promise broken

The story these advocates came to tell is super straightforward. In 2018, Unilever made a global commitment to source only cage-free eggs in every region where it operates by 2025. In 2025, Unilever revoked its commitment. This means hens are still confined in cramped wire cages in vast swathes of Unilever’s supply chain, and they’re the ones who are paying the price for the gap between what the company said it would do and what it has actually done—nothing.

Unilever is one of the largest consumer goods companies on earth. Its brands—Dove, Hellmann’s Mayo, Axe, Vaseline, TRESemmé, Seventh Generation—show up in homes across virtually every country in the world. The company has built its reputation on messaging about beauty, wellbeing, and sustainability. It has also made public commitments on animal welfare, including a global promise to end the use of battery cages in its egg supply chain. That commitment has not been fulfilled in all regions where Unilever operates, and late last year, Unilever actually walked its commitment back. Advocates directed their message specifically at Herrish Patel, President of Unilever USA and CEO of Personal Care, North America and Casey DePalma McCartney, Chief Brand Communications Officer, Unilever—two of the summit's featured speakers—because the people with the power to act on these promises were in that building.

“We need Unilever to fulfill their global cage-free egg policy in all regions that they operate in,” said Drea Gutierrez, one of the organizers on site. “Unilever made a global commitment, and they are currently failing. We’re not going to allow companies to get away with animal abuse.”

That’s a message Unilever execs can only choose to ignore at their own peril. It’s also what drew local television to the scene. WPEC CBS 12 covered the protest, capturing what a luxury summit looks like when accountability shows up uninvited.

When a company the size of Unilever makes a promise to spare hens from cages, it dictates what life is like for an enormous number of animals across its global operations. When a promise like that gets taken back, somebody has to call it out.

These advocates weren’t asking Unilever for anything new. They were asking the company to honor its own word. That’s not a fringe demand. It’s the kind of basic accountability anyone can get behind, no matter what’s on their plate.