Class Action Lawsuit Alleges The Body Firm Touts False Discounts, ‘Limited-Time’ Deals

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action lawsuit alleges that The Body Firm has run a widespread, deceptive pricing scheme whereby the cosmetics retailer has falsely advertised “extraordinary,” limited-time discounts, even though the products were never sold for more than the advertised discount rate.

Get class action lawsuit and class action settlement news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter.

According to the 24-page Body Firm class action lawsuit, the defendant prominently advertises on its website and in promotional materials 25-percent-off discounts using strike-through price comparisons alongside a product’s purported original price. The filing says that this false advertising has led reasonable consumers to believe that the strike-through price was an item's supposed original price and that they were receiving a special discount.

“A representation of '25% off' discount plainly conveys that the consumers are getting a tremendous deal compared to what the product or service normally costs,” the lawsuit asserts.

Per the suit, the original price shown by The Body Firm is, in fact, “a fiction” intended to make consumers feel as though they are getting a bargain. The filing claims that The Body Firm also adds a countdown timer to these illegitimate discounts to create a false sense of urgency and push consumers to make a purchase.

“To verify the [The Body Firm] always offers the purported 25% off limited discount, Plaintiff’s counsel performed an investigation of [The Body Firm]’s advertising practices using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine,” the class action lawsuit explains. The Wayback Machine is a tool used to determine a website’s appearance and content at a particular point in time.  

According to the class action lawsuit, “that investigation confirms [The Body Firm]’s perpetual sales” on its website.

The case charges that pricing schemes like this violate California’s False Advertising Law and the Federal Trade Commission's guidelines.

Furthermore, the lawsuit asserts that “reasonable consumers do not realize the fake nature of the sale…because the sale appears to be bona fide.”

The plaintiff in the case purchased a skin care product from The Body Firm during an advertised “end of summer sale” that allegedly gave consumers 25 percent off all online purchases. The original price of the product was listed as $79.95, and the plaintiff reasonably relied on The Body Firm’s assertions that the 25-percent off sale was a temporary and exceptional sale.

Had she known the sale was part of an ongoing deception, she would not have purchased the product then or at all, the filing alleges.

The Body Firm class action lawsuit seeks to represent anyone in the United States who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, purchased The Body Firm’s products at a purported discount.

Check out ClassAction.org’s lawsuit list for the latest open class action lawsuits and investigations.