Posts Tagged ‘ Estee Lauder ’

Coming To A Theater Near You: False Advertising?

January 28th, 2013. By AbiK

Beauty product class action lawsuits have been all over the news lately—three of the most recent are the Clinique Anti-Aging claims class action, the Avon ANEW product claim class action and the Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara class action lawsuit. All three lawsuits take aim at marketing claims that allegedly fail to deliver (aka, false advertising).

But beyond the consumer fraud—the price we all pay for promises not kept—is the price paid by women who are coaxed into believing that the advertising images are a) attainable and b) the only acceptable definition of ‘beauty’.

There’s a new movement afoot though that seeks to change that—in the form of an upcoming documentary aptly titled “False Advertising”. The beauty of it (no pun) is that is was the brainchild of three recent college graduates—all women—rather than some consumer watchdog group.

One of the women, Jennifer Bowker, was a sociology major and had written her senior thesis on the media and how it affects women’s body image and self-esteem. After graduation, Bowker joined forces with Avery Archie and Michelle Costales and together they produced “False Advertising”.

According to their Facebook page,

We made this documentary to help women start thinking critically about the media and how they define what is considered “beautiful.” It is detrimental to women, of all ages, when they internalize this ideal and strive to become it. After watching this, our hope is that women will view the media in a different light and see it for what it really is: False Advertising.

Kudos to these young women—just starting out in their careers—for taking a stance against dishonesty in beauty marketing. We applaud what they’re doing and wish them much success with the release of “False Advertising”.

 

Tags: Avon, Class Action Lawsuit, Clinique, Consumer Fraud, Estee Lauder, false advertising
Posted in Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 1 Comment »

Beauty Blemish: Avon et al Piss Off PETA, Face Class Action Lawsuit

March 6th, 2012. By AbiK

You’d think Avon would have enough on its vanity right now with those alleged Avon bribery charges in overseas markets and that CEO search they’ve got going on. But, in true hit-’em-when-they’re-down fashion, Avon—along with Mary Kay and Estee Lauder—has just been hit with class action charges—for deceptive and misleading conduct in “marketing, selling, promoting and distributing cosmetic products in the United States”.

More specifically, the newly filed class action is going after the makeup companies’ ‘no animal testing’ claims. (Before we go on, please note, no animals were harmed in the photoshopping of the above image.)

The false advertising class action lawsuit was filed by lead plaintiff Marina Beltran (Beltran et al. v. Estee Lauder, et al., United States District Court – Central District of California, Case No. SA12-CV312 CJC (ANX)) on February 28, 2012. Beltran and her co-lead plaintiffs claim Avon, Estee Lauder and Mary Kay engaged in animal testing on their products even though they advertised that they were “cruelty-free”. The court documents also state that the beauty companies conducted animal testing in order “sell products in China and other foreign countries, thereby reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in sales.” (Wait a minute—China? Wasn’t China the major focus of that Avon bribery investigation?)

The filed court documents state that the “Defendants later purported to disclose, at least on their websites, that they in fact were animal testing, but the disclosures were wholly inadequate and deceptive.”

Not one to sit on the sidelines where animal cruelty is concerned, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has kicked the companies off its “cruelty free” list, though I imagine that for Avon, that downgrade hasn’t had quite the same sting as the downgrades given to AVP stock by some analysts recently. When it rains, it pours.

Actually, the PETA downgrade is key to the animal testing class action—the court documents state that because Avon, Estee Lauder and Mary Kay had been granted a cherished spot on PETA’s “cruelty free” list, the companies benefited financially—i.e., customers who proactively sought out cosmetic products that were not tested on animals would refer to PETA’s list and patronize those companies on the list.

It’s estimated that the class size for this one is in excess of 1,000,000 members—and the makeup company animal testing class action lawsuit is seeking compensatory damages of $100M.

Tags: Animal Testing, Avon Products, Class Action Lawsuit, Cruelty Free, Estee Lauder, Mary Kay, PETA
Posted in Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | 12 Comments »