Sia's MAC Collection Is Stirring Up Controversy — Here's Why

Many celebrities make an effort to stay out of the spotlight, but there's only one who's made hiding her face from the public eye an actual part of her public persona: Despite having a number of smash hits under her belt, Sia is able to maintain relative anonymity in the real world by concealing her face behind a curtain of blonde hair during interviews and whenever she's onstage. Naturally, many of the singer's fans were surprised when she announced last week that she'd be lending (some of) her face for a good cause, as the latest star to sign on for a lip-colour collaboration with MAC as part of the brand's Viva Glam initiative.

It's an honour that's also been awarded to Miley Cyrus, Taraji P. Henson, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and more; every cent of the proceeds from the sale of the lipsticks and glosses goes to the MAC AIDS Fund to support organisations all over the world in fighting the epidemic and helping better the lives of those already living with HIV/AIDS. An amazing charitable cause, to be sure — but not all of Sia's fans have been thrilled with the news.

That's because Sia is a devoted vegan and animal lover who's publicly advocated for PETA, Oscar's Law, and the Beagle Freedom Project — and MAC is a company that sells in China, where animal testing is currently still mandatory as part of its "safety assessment" process before cosmetics go to market. Though MAC itself does not test on animals, and in fact strongly supports the effort to promote alternative forms of testing worldwide through a partnership with the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, the choice to sell in China is a controversial one for many brands.

Fans have not let the perceived contradiction between Sia's animal activism and her choice to team up with MAC go unnoticed. Many of them took to Twitter to call her out on the discrepancy, and she responded with a tweet of her own, writing, "Like M·A·C, I believe makeup shouldn’t be tested on animals. M·A·C does not test on animals and is advocating change in countries like China where animal testing exists." She linked to the statement on the MAC website that further explains its stance on animal testing — but that didn't do much to quell the backlash.

We're reached out to MAC for comment, and will update this post when we hear back.