Sondos Alqattan, a Kuwaiti social media influencer, was dropped by several giant cosmetic brands after receiving online criticisms when she complained about a new law allowing Filipino domestic workers to keep their passports and have days off.
Three international brands, including cosmetics giant Max Factor, have cut ties with Alqattan amid calls for a boycott of the businesses linked to the influencer, the Gulf News reported.
Earlier, French perfume brand M. Micallef and London-based Chelsea Beautique also fired the beauty and fashion influencer, the report added.
In an Instagram post on Tuesday, Alqattan said, “Don’t judge a person without full understanding of the situation. Just because you don’t agree, doesn’t mean that you’re right!”
Alqattan was reacting to comments from netizens after she was shown in a video saying, “I don’t want a Filipino maid anymore.”
The video was uploaded and translated into English by Turkey-based media TRT News last Thursday.
“But how can you have a ‘servant’ in your house who gets to keep their passports with them?” Alqattan asked. “If they run away and went back to their country, who’ll refund me?”
Alqattan was reacting to a new law signed in May as part of an agreement between the Philippines and Kuwait to protect the welfare of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Gulf state.
The new law effectively banned the practice of an employer holding their maid’s passport.
The law also required employers to provide food, clothing, health insurance, and one day off each week.
On Monday, Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a migrant workers’ rights advocate group, urged the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to ban Alqattan from hiring a domestic worker from the Philippines.
“She is not worthy to be even in the same room as our valiant and hardworking OFWs,” the group said in a statement. /vvp
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