The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 is facing an unprecedented boycott, with several countries withdrawing in protest of Israel’s participation.
The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest is shrouded in global outrage. At the heart of the protest is Israel’s participation during the devastation in Gaza, leading millions to ask why Russia was expelled while Israel remains.
Based on the latest reports and confirmed announcements, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia have declared they will boycott the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest following the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to compete.
The controversy now directly implicates a major global sponsor, Moroccanoil—a brand that proclaims itself the “#1 haircare oil in the US” on its own website (though the brand’s facilities are reportedly in Israel, Italy, and Canada)—proving this is not merely a European dispute, but a global consumer concern.
In 2019, the organizers of Eurovision, the European Broadcasting Union, named Moroccanoil its official “Presenting Partner”. The Israeli-founded company’s stylists would tend to contestants’ hair and its branding would be woven into the broadcast. The partnership positioned Moroccanoil not as a bystander, but as a stylist to Eurovision’s global image.
The clean beauty industry, built on promises of transparency and ethics, is watching closely. This controversy reveals that a brand’s “clean” and “cruelty-free” claims are a holistic promise—scrutinized from the origins of its ingredients to the high-profile stages where its logos appear.
It has also provoked a direct ethical challenge: can a brand credibly call itself “cruelty-free,” a term consumers equate with ethical practices, while officially partnering with an event that critics say sanitizes a military campaign accused of extreme human cruelty?
The irony is stark against the chosen Eurovision slogan for the 2026 contest: “Europe, Shall We Dance?” For the growing coalition of boycotting nations, the answer is a resounding no.
