Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a decision against California Naturel, Inc. related to its advertising of “all natural” sunscreen on both its website and the product packaging itself. On its website, California Naturel was not only advertising its sunscreen as “all natural” but was describing the sunscreen as containing “only the purest, most luxurious and effective ingredients found in nature.” The FTC found that this advertising conveyed that California Naturel’s sunscreen contains only ingredients that are found in nature. But because California Naturel admitted that eight percent of its sunscreen formula consists of a synthetic ingredient, the FTC determined that California Naturel’s advertising constituted false and misleading advertising and that such advertising is likely to materially impact consumers’ purchasing decisions.
In response to California Naturel’s arguments, the FTC decided that the product’s ingredient list and the disclaimer on California Naturel’s website were insufficient to cure the deceptive advertising. With respect to the ingredient list, the FTC noted that the synthetic ingredient was buried within a list of over 30 ingredients and that nothing identified the ingredient at issue as synthetic. With respect to the website disclaimer, the FTC found that it was not prevalent enough given its location at the bottom of the website—particularly in contrast to the prevalence of the “all natural” advertising elsewhere on the website and on the product packaging itself.
Under its authority to issue a remedy for false and misleading advertising, the FTC issued an order prohibiting California Naturel from advertising its products as “all natural” or making other similar representations. More information about the FTC’s decision against California Naturel can be found here.