More consumers care about “clean” and additive-free products than ever before, especially in the beauty arena. This market is expected to reach $22 billion by 2024, and may grow because younger generations in particular value “clean” over other claims. Brands must substantiate these claims–but what does clean really mean?
Is Clean the New Natural?
Litigators, marketers, and courts are certainly not strangers to “natural” claims in false advertising litigation. Express or implied “natural” claims can be very problematic when certain chemicals are in the product. Marketing products as “clean” may present a similar problem, in both nomenclature and enforcement. A case filed against beauty company Sephora looks to make a distinction between “clean” and “natural.”
Enter Finster vs Sephora
In federal court for the Northern District of New York, Lindsey Finster and a class of consumers filed a false advertising suit against Sephora USA Inc. Finster claimed that Sephora sold products in its Clean at Sephora program that included synthetic ingredients and allegedly harmful additives and were not what consumers would understand to be “clean.” The plaintiffs allege that they purchased products believing them not to be harmful or synthetic, which was the basis for allegations of false advertising, unjust enrichment, fraud, and more.
Sephora moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that the plaintiffs misunderstood the word “clean” to mean “natural” and that Sephora was very clear in its disclosure of what “clean” meant in its campaign. It argued that its marketing is clear that Clean at Sephora products are “formulated without parabens, sulfates, SLS, SLES, phthalates, mineral oils, formaldehyde, and more,” unlike “natural” labels that should “contain only natural ingredients.”
The Reasonable Clean Consumer
Sephora clearly disclosed and defined its standard for what “clean” is, but was that clean enough? Sephora listed the ingredients that the products did not contain, but is there still a valid lawsuit if other ingredients in the Clean at Sephora products are found to be irritants or harmful? In a case like this, a consumer survey can help, because these surveys often measure what consumers understand disputed terms like “clean” to mean, in relation to manufacturing, ingredients, and how marketing is perceived in totality.
Where there are questions of consumer preference and understanding, there is a way to measure that. Contact MMR Strategy Group if you require a survey to measure consumer preferences for advertising claim substantiation, in a litigation matter, or for marketing research.
Where there are questions of consumer preference and understanding, there is a way to measure that. Contact MMR Strategy Group if you require a survey to measure consumer preferences for advertising claim substantiation, in a litigation matter, or for marketing research.
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