Oars + Alps Cosmetic Products Falsely Labeled as ‘Natural,’ Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges Oars + Alps cosmetic and beauty products are not as “natural” as consumers have been led to believe.

The 38-page case says that the Oars + Alps products at issue, despite their labeling, are in fact not natural because they contain multiple synthetic ingredients, including phenoxyethanol, dimethicone, caprylyl glycol, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, propanediol, ethylhexylglycerin, and citric acid. 

Per the suit, reasonable consumers bought the Oars + Alps items under the belief that they were accurately represented, and would not have done so had they known the products were not natural as their labels suggested. As the case tells it, the apparent “deception” on the part of defendants S.C. Johnson & Son and Oars + Alps, LLC is not limited to only the products’ labels, but it is “omnipresent” throughout the companies’ “natural” marketing efforts. 

The Oars + Alps products mentioned in the lawsuit include the company’s Natural Deodorant, Natural Face Moisturizer + Eye Cream, Natural Wake Up Eye Stick with Caffeine, Natural Charcoal Solid Face Wash, Natural Wake Up Face Serum, and Natural Body + Face Wash.

According to the complaint, reasonable consumers understand the term “natural” to mean that a product lacks any synthetic ingredients. According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Draft Guidance Decision Tree for the classification of materials as either synthetic or natural, a substance is natural if it is made, produced or extracted from a natural source and has not undergone a chemical change so that it is chemically or structurally different than how it occurs naturally. Likewise, a substance is natural if a chemical change affecting it was created by naturally occurring biological processes, such as composting, fermentation or burning, the suit states. 

In the same light, the FDA has warned that any “natural” labeling on products must be “truthful and not misleading,” per the case. 

The lawsuit alleges that S.C. Johnson and Oars + Alps are aware that a reasonable consumer would interpret “natural” to mean that a product is without synthetic ingredients, something the case argues is “consistently shown with Defendants’ public statements, behavior, and marketing.” 

“At every step of the way, Defendants want consumers to believe that the Products are ‘natural,’” the complaint reads, contending that the plaintiff believed based on the language on every product label that the items contained only natural ingredients. 

According to the filing, the defendants’ representations of the Oars + Alps products as “natural” are false, deceptive and misleading since the items contain decidedly synthetic ingredients. The companies, the lawsuit says, failed to disclose anywhere on the products that the ingredients highlighted on this page are synthetic, and reasonable consumers would not know that the ingredients are synthetic.

The case contends that the “natural” marketing of the Oars + Alps products at issue in a prominent location on each of their labels “evidences Defendants’ awareness” that “natural” claims are important to consumers. 

The lawsuit looks to represent consumers nationwide who bought Oars + Alps products within the United States within the applicable statute of limitations period. 

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