Airborne Class Action Lawsuit Challenges Vitamin C Dosage Claims on Product Labels

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that the maker of Airborne vitamin C supplements has misled consumers into believing each unit contains more vitamin C than it actually does.

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The 21-page lawsuit alleges that defendant RB Health prominently advertises certain dosages, such as “Vitamin C 1,000mg,” on the front labels of the Airborne vitamin C supplements, but fails to properly inform consumers that each chewable tablet, gummy, or effervescent tablet contains just a fraction of the advertised dose per unit.

The supplements at issue in the Airborne class action lawsuit include, but are not limited to:

• Airborne Vitamin C 1,000 mg Very Berry Chewable Tablets;
• Airborne Vitamin C 1,000 mg Zesty Orange Chewable Tablets;
• Airborne Immune Support Gummies (750 mg Vitamin C);
• Airborne Vitamin C + Zinc Gummies;
• Airborne Elderberry + Zinc + Vitamin C Gummies; and
• Airborne Triple Action Immune Support Effervescent Tablets.

According to the false advertising lawsuit, consumers understand Airborne’s packaging to mean that each gummy or tablet, not each serving, contains the stated amount of vitamin C.  The case says that Airborne makes the false representations to “grab the consumer’s attention.”

“For example, consumers must ingest four chewable tablets of the Airborne Vitamin C 1,000 mg Very Berry Chewable Tablet Product to achieve the advertised dosage of Vitamin C,” the case says. “This leads consumers to overpay for the Products by a significant margin.”

Indeed, consumers seeking the advertised dose of vitamin C must consume two or more of each individual unit of the supplement products to achieve the advertised dosage and thus “grossly overpay” for the products, the case claims.

The health supplement market has grown significantly in recent years, with many companies, such as Airborne, “scrambling” to manufacture and sell high-dosage vitamin C products, the complaint relays. The suit contends Airborne charges consumers a price premium while “reaping the financial benefits” of selling allegedly mislabeled supplements.

Per the filing, the primary purpose of the products is to provide the advertised dose of vitamin C. By failing to provide the stated vitamin C dosage, Airborne has provided consumers with a product worth less than what they paid, given that the supplements contain between 750 mg and 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C per serving, not per tablet or gummy, a fact that is not disclosed on the products’ front labels, the lawsuit alleges.

The suit notes that many of Airborne’s competitors avoid this problem by clearly making their dosage representations to be per-tablet, per-gummy or per-serving basis.

The Airborne class action lawsuit looks to cover all individuals in California who purchased the products in California for personal and household use and not for resale within the applicable statute of limitations and until the date class notice is disseminated.

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