MAC Cosmetics launch makeup edit with Joseph Harwood and donate £50,000 to Mermaids which is currently under statutory inquiry

While the UK government has expanded its inquiry into the Mermaids charity, MAC Cosmetics is celebrating "trans awareness week" by launching an "inclusive makeup edit by Joseph Harwood (He, She, They) and is donating £50,000 to the Mermaids Charity. That seems like extremely poor timing. 

Quoting the UK Government's press release, the investigation into Mermaids began back in September.

The Charity Commission opened a regulatory compliance case into the charity in September 2022 after safeguarding allegations were raised. It has now formalised its engagement by opening a statutory inquiry, due to newly identified issues about the charity’s governance and management.

The Commission will investigate the regulatory issues to determine whether they indicate serious systemic failing in the charity’s governance and management. The trustees have fully cooperated with the regulator’s case, but their response has not provided the necessary reassurance or satisfied the Commission at this stage.

The regulator will seek to determine whether the charity’s governance is appropriate in relation to the activities the charity carries out, which involve vulnerable children and young people, as well as their families.

Meanwhile, MAC's press release seems blissfully unaware of this. Quoting them: 

M·A·C UK&I has donated £50,000 to Mermaids funded from 100% of the proceeds of M·A·C VIVA GLAM Lipsticks (less VAT), to meet the charity's ever-increasing demand (+110% from 2021- 2022) for services which supports transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse children and young people. M·A·C’s support will help Mermaids in its mission to end harmful conversion practices in the UK, which disproportionately affect the trans community.

"M·A·C's been a loud and proud part of the LGBTQIA+ community since the brand's inception in 1984,” says M·A·C Cosmetics UK & Ireland Vice President General Manager Fiona Sainty. "We believe there is no LGB without the T, and know that the trans community need our support now more than ever. We hope that our £50,000 pledge to Mermaids from VIVA GLAM will support their life-changing assistance to gender-diverse young people and their families.”

Pioneers in shade and product inclusivity, M·A·C are proud to partner with diversity and inclusivity consultant and award-winning beauty expert Joseph Harwood (he, she, they) on a limited-edition edit — accessible to all gender identities — available exclusively online at M·A·C.

We've opened a statutory inquiry into Mermaids, after identifying concerns about its governance and management.

Read more: https://t.co/o4jOAo4NlI pic.twitter.com/bcmQgC8B9Q

— Charity Commission (@ChtyCommission) December 2, 2022