Cosmetic company in trouble for marketing claims
June 28, 2009 by Jo
L’Oreal is being taken to the Market Court in Sweden for making claims that the Consumer Ombudsman says they cannot substantiate. As the name suggests the Marketing Court deals expressly with cases concerned with marketing.
The job of the Consumer Ombudsman is to protect the interests of the consumer and represent them in court against companies. In this case the ombudsman is not satisfied that the claims of L’Oreal that their product being able to reduce wrinkles by 43% is backed by sufficient evidence to support this marketing claim.
Consumers Stockholm an association representing the interests of the consumer in Sweden, has backed the action saying that the cosmetics market needs to held accountable to the rules and regulations that are in place to protect the consumer. They also called for funding to ensure that cosmetic companies are reviewed and held accountable for any marketing claims they may make.
There has been a number of cases worldwide over the last year that have seen cosmetic companies called to task for marketing claims about what their products can do. Fanciful claims that are unsubstantiated or backed by pseudo research combined with airbrushing in advertisements has become a normal practice for many cosmetic companies and serve only to mislead the consumer.
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!