It's certainly possible they took it down because they were getting negative/controversial comments on it, and not because they cared about why -- I'd suspect if people were making noise about them for partnering with a trans creator (like Bud Light/Mulvaney) they'd probably react similarly.
But at the very least it suggests to me that they aren't invested in defending reactionaries or standing for things beyond "our stuff is pretty, please buy it" which is... well the default assumption, really. Makes me appreciate the stationery brands and creators who take good, affirmative stances.
I appreciate folks who have an actual set of core values (that jive with mine at least somewhat) but "you know what, that is not my circus" is acceptable and I will take it. Because the point to me is what they actually STAND FOR.
Yeah. And Herbin (J. Herbin? however they are branding it now) is part of the Exacompta Clairefontaine group, which is publicly traded, has 50 companies under it, etc. Which is to say, Herbin doesn't stand for anything, good or bad, really, and never really can do so under current capitalist rules.
There's just not a "there" there to really have a point of view. Which is, in and of itself, a quality one can consider when thinking about where to spend their entertainment/hobby money. I wasn't even aware Herbin was part of a huge group until I dug in looking at it.
But based on thinking "Herbin stands for making shareholders money" I know that is true of plenty of other products I love. So, I'll keep buying Herbin as much as my enjoyment of their inks warrants... which to date, has been "not very much enjoyment at all". So moot point for me personally anyway.
They used tp be a favorite but the last couple bottles were not awesome.
I'm sure a lot of my preferences were formed based on the first bottle of ink I got that really satisfied me for a given shade or niche of ink. Herbin didn't wow me early on, and now I've got enough coverage for every purpose a new ink really needs to stand out somehow for me to be interested.
In practice, that means over the two years, my new inks have been from one of Birmingham, The Wet Pen, Troublemaker, or Colorverse. That or were part of the Enigma Stationery Inkvent set. In some cases, the same in both. But getting The Wet Pen dupes just felt nice to me, about both Enigma and TWP.
When I first really got into pens, in my area, if you wanted colorful, your choices were Parker penman, which would soon be discontinued, or Herbin. For years I used Lamy black, Waterman blue, Parker ruby, and Herbin poussiere de lune. And I liked them but my rotation is way different now.
I still use Waterman but Parker Penman's gone, IDK what's going on with Herbin's quality, Lamy's OK but Pilot's more agreeable and Platinum is blacker. Pilot Iroshizuku and Diamine have me covered for no-fuss colors, and thanks to that advent calendar, Teranishi is my new bff.
Yeah, I got into them a lot more recently, and my path was looking for more refillable/customizable brush pens (I.e., coming from Tombow, Faber-Castell Pitt, Kuretake's confusing lineup, etc.). Thinking about use with watercolors landed me unfortunately deep in Noodler's to start.