Between policy and practice

In Algeria, Law 91-05 (Journal Officiel de la République Algérienne 1991) mandates the visual prominence of Arabic on consumer packaging as a mechanism of language policy implementation intended to ensure linguistic accessibility and consumer protection. This article examines how this policy is recontextualised in commercial practice within the domestic cosmetics sector. Drawing on a full-population visual corpus of 146 Algerian-owned cosmetics manufacturers (N=43 deploying English), the study provides an empirical analysis of language policy effects on packaging design and language use. Using structured qualitative content analysis, it examines typographic salience, functional language allocation and patterns of compliance with statutory requirements. The analysis identifies four recurrent labelling strategies: English-dominant aestheticisation, segmented bilingualism, symbolic compliance with English precedence, and Arabic-dominant compliance. The findings show that market logics systematically mediate policy implementation, assigning differentiated semiotic roles to Arabic, French and English. English and French are prioritised for branding, scientific claims and symbolic value, while Arabic is foregrounded primarily where regulatory visibility or local authenticity is commercially advantageous. These patterns reveal a persistent gap between language policy objectives and their realisation in regulated commercial domains. The analysis also bears on broader policy debates concerning equitable access to information and responsible consumption in multilingual markets, with implications for language policy governance in Europe and beyond, particularly where minority or co-official languages compete with global lingua francas in commercial domains. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ .