Coppertone Pure & Simple suntan lotion is made by Beiersdorf, Inc. and is promoted with words suggesting natural ingredients. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the product contains many ingredients that “are neither pure nor simple, because they are made by mixing with other substances and materials and significantly modified from their original state.”
Two classes have been defined for this action:
- The Illinois Class is all persons in Illinois who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
- The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, Utah, and Alaska who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
The first page of the complaint displays an image of the product bottle, showing the words “Pure & Simple” and “With Nourishing Botanicals.”
According to the complaint, consumers these days value products with pure and simple ingredients, “believing they are better for their bodies and the environment.” The complaint defines “pure” as “not mixed or adulterated with any other substance and material” and simple as “not complicated” and “with additions or modifications.”
But this is not true of the product, the complaint alleges, because “no less than seventeen of its twenty-four ingredients are neither pure nor simple, because they are made by mixing with other substances and materials and significantly modified from their original state.”
The active and main ingredient in the lotion is zinc oxide. Although this “occurs in the mineral zincite, this version is not used commercially[,]” the complaint says. “Instead, the zinc oxide in the Product is made through synthetic means involving high-temperature oxidation of metallic zinc or zinc ores.” This means, the complaint alleges that the substance “no longer pure or simple.”
Page 3 of the complaint reproduces the Inactive Ingredient panel for the products which the complaint identifies as also not pure or simple.
For example, the complaint points out the ingredients “[c]yclopentasiloxane, dimethicone, PEG-12 dimethicone crosspolymer, and cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 dimethicone” that it alleges are silicones, or synthetic polymers which “are created through intense processing and chemical reactions.” Similarly, it points out “[b]utyloctyl salicylate, C12-15 alkyl benzoate, isopropyl palmitate, ethylhexyl methoxycrylene and ethylhexyl isononanoate [which] are synthetic esters” and which “are made from carboxylic acids and alcohols, through chemical processing.”
The complaint reviews the other ingredients as well, all of which it claims should not be described as pure or simple. The complaint says these are “false and misleading representations.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Coppertone “Pure & Simple” Suntan Lotion Ingredients Complaint
November 27, 2022
Coppertone Pure & Simple suntan lotion is made by Beiersdorf, Inc. and is promoted with words suggesting natural ingredients. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the product contains many ingredients that “are neither pure nor simple, because they are made by mixing with other substances and materials and significantly modified from their original state.”
Coppertone “Pure & Simple” Suntan Lotion Ingredients ComplaintCase Event History
Coppertone “Pure & Simple” Suntan Lotion Ingredients Complaint
November 27, 2022
Coppertone Pure & Simple suntan lotion is made by Beiersdorf, Inc. and is promoted with words suggesting natural ingredients. But the complaint for this class action alleges that the product contains many ingredients that “are neither pure nor simple, because they are made by mixing with other substances and materials and significantly modified from their original state.”
Coppertone “Pure & Simple” Suntan Lotion Ingredients Complaint