Claim with caution
Frey said the challenge for beauty manufacturers and brands is making sure they are not making marketing claims that can be undermined by the presence of certain chemicals.
“What companies need to avoid is making claims about their ingredients being ‘clean’ or ‘natural’ and then using PFAS materials which, although they don’t have to be declared on the label, are clearly not ‘clean’ or ‘natural’,” Frey said. “Even though they are added at very low levels, that raises the question of whether the company is being honest in their product description.”
Orveon-owned brand bareMinerals is a case in point. In December 2021, five plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Shiseido Americas Corporation, which owned the brand at the time, on behalf of “all consumers who purchased bareMinerals products.”
The plaintiffs alleged that bareMinerals were falsely advertised as “clean,” “pure” and “free of harsh chemicals and unnecessary additives” because they contained PFAS, which the plaintiffs asserted were “not clean or natural.”
Even without PFAS in the equation, Frey said that claims such as ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, ‘clean’ and ‘natural’ can be a real “trigger point” for companies getting themselves into trouble if they are not descriptive enough or specific enough about what they mean.
“Shorthand claims are very impactful but the devil is in the detail when it comes to supporting these claims, so it is very important that companies have back-up and understand that they have to be very cautious about making claims,” Frey said. “If they are saying something is ‘natural’, what is their definition of ‘natural’, for example.”
While the Federal Trade Commission provides guidance on some claims, he said there is no set definition for many terms so it is important that manufacturers define them.
“There might not be any regulations but consumers will hold brands to account,” Frey said.