When it comes to performance marketing programs, few industries have more options than the health and beauty products industry. They have done a great job at giving marketers excellent opportunities to make money selling high quality products. Marketers pushing these types of products, however, may want to watch out for trouble ahead.
The FTC is cracking down on misleading advertising that health and beauty products use. Specifically, they have brought charges against five companies because they make the claim that their products are 100% natural or all-natural when they really aren’t.
The companies are Rocky Mountain Sunscreen, ShiKai Shower Gel, Eden BodyWorks, Beyond Coastal Sunscreen and California Natural Sunscreen. All the companies except for California Natural Sunscreen have settled with the agency and made arrangements to adjust their labeling and advertising. The FTC is continuing to push for a lawsuit against California Natural, however.
The labeling and marketing on these products used descriptions like, “100% Natural” when they actually had artificial additives. Most commonly, they contained dimethicone and/or phenoxyethanol. These are preservatives that are often used in cleaning products as well as sunscreens and similar items.
Jessica Rich, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said of these cases, “’All natural’ or ‘100% natural’ means just that – no artificial ingredients or chemicals. Companies should take a lesson from these cases.”
The personal-care product industry is currently growing quite rapidly, currently bringing in about $5 billion per year in the US alone. While there is no official or legal definition for ‘natural’ the FTC clearly thinks that these companies have crossed the line in what can be considered common language.
While the FTC has so far only been targeting the manufacturers of these products, it is possible that they will look at marketing companies as well in the future, so anyone working with or in the beauty industry will want to take these cases seriously.
