Lawsuits Claim Axe ‘Anti Marks Protection,’ Dove Men + Care ‘Stain Defense’ Antiperspirants Are Falsely Advertised

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Unilever faces two proposed class actions that respectively allege that company’s Axe-brand “Anti Marks Protection” and Dove-brand “Stain Defense” Men + Care antiperspirants actually cause the yellow stains and white marks they claim to avoid.

According to the lawsuits, the products’ active ingredient, aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex GLY, is proven to cause white marks and yellow stains on clothing. The cases allege consumers have been misled by Unilever’s label representations into believing the products can provide a benefit that, in reality, they cannot provide.

“The product does absolutely nothing to decrease, lessen or reduce white marks – it creates them,” each complaint says about the antiperspirants.

The lawsuits, which were recently removed from state to federal court in Missouri, say the fact that the Axe and Dove antiperspirants actually cause the problems they claim to prevent renders Unilever’s representations with regard to white marks and stains false and misleading.

The Axe “Anti Marks Protection” line of antiperspirants is marketed as made with “a unique formula with anti white marks and yellow stains protection” and capable of leaving “no white marks” and “no yellow stains,” one lawsuit says, noting that the products come in white containers to distinguish them from Unilever’s non-Anti Marks Protection products.

According to the suit, however, it has “long been recognized” and is “well-accepted” that the active aluminum ingredient in the Axe product leaves white marks and yellow stains on clothing, particularly when mixed with a wearer’s perspiration. Moreover, the plaintiff in the case, a St. Louis County resident, says he noticed that the Axe product left white marks “on every color of clothing he used it with,” and that his shirts began to exhibit yellow stains after he wore the antiperspirant for a while.

The lawsuit concedes that while the Axe product may theoretically cause less staining and fewer white marks than Unilever’s non-Anti Marks Protection products, which the suit claims is “not apparent,” the antiperspirant still causes “the exact condition” it purports to be able to prevent, according to the complaint.

The case pertaining to the Axe product further argues that the antiperspirant is “completely absent” of any ingredient that could be considered as capable of protecting against white marks and stains and contains no additional ingredients, besides silica, that are not contained in at least one other variety of non-Anti Marks Protection products.

Similarly, the lawsuit pertaining to the Dove “Stain Defense” Men + Care product says the antiperspirant is marketed as having “added” features that “protect” against “yellow stains” and “white marks” on wearers’ clothing. Despite these representations, however, the Stain Defense product has “the exact same ingredients” as Unilever’s non-Stain Defense Men + Care products, the case alleges. The only difference between Stain Defense and non-Stain defense antiperspirants is that the active aluminum ingredient in the Stain Defense product is diluted from 15.2 percent to 11.4 percent, according to the suit.

“Such dilution of an active ingredient is, in no sense of the phrase, an ‘added benefit,’” the complaint attests. “Rather, the dilution of an active ingredient more likely simply reduces the effectiveness of the ‘normal’ product, making the Product, in reality, inferior to the non-‘Stain Defense’ ‘Men + Care’ line.”

Moreover, the case notes that since the Dove Stain Defense product actually causes the white marks and yellow stains it claims to prevent, the defendant’s marketing of the antiperspirant is deceptive and misleading. 

Both lawsuits claim consumers would not have purchased the products at issue, or would have paid less, had they known the claims concerning the prevention of white marks and yellow stains were false.

Unilever has previously faced proposed class action litigation over its Dove and Axe antiperspirants’ purported ability to prevent white marks and yellow stains.

The two complaints can be read below.

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