How much do executives get for their souls in the age of China? The folks at L'Oreal may help answer this most tantalizing of questions as its Lancome brand sells out Hong Kong to pretty up ties with Beijing.

Leave it to a cosmetics maker to prove multinationals' commitment to free speech and civic responsibility is skin deep. The blemish on Lancome's standing with Xi Jinping's government was sponsoring a mini-concert by Canto-pop star Denise Ho, which sparked a backlash because of her support for Hong Kong's democracy movement and Tibet. Lancome blamed "possible safety concerns" for scrapping the event and shuttering stores. But its best makeup products can't mask the shamefulness of this capitulation and the ugly precedent it sets.

Granted, Western names have a long and checkered track record of denying they kowtowing to Beijing, from Yahoo! to Microsoft. Ten years on, I'm still a bit amazed by the Rolling Stones bowing to the Communist Party and not playing "Brown Sugar," "Beast of Burden," "Let's Spend the Night Together" and other classics. "We didn't expect to come to China and not be censored," singer Mick Jagger told reporters in Shanghai at the time, insisting it's "not a big deal."