Huggies “Natural Care” “Plant-Based Wipes” Claims Class Action

Kimberly Clark Corporation offers Huggies Natural Care baby wipes, which claim on their front labels to be “Plant-based wipes” and to provide “natural care.” The complaint for this class claims these “Challenged Representations” are deceptive, because they give the false impression that the wipes are made exclusively from natural, plant-based, non-synthetic ingredients.

The Nationwide Class is all residents of the US who, within the applicable statute of limitations periods, bought the products with the Challenged Representations on the front packaging, for purposes other than resale. A California Subclass has also been defined for those in the above class who are residents of California and who bought the products between November 10, 2018 and November 10, 2022.

The products include Huggies Natural Care wipes, in both the Sensitive and Refreshing varieties.

In recent years, consumers have come to value “natural” products—that is, products that are not made with synthetic or highly-processed materials or ingredients. The complaint lists a number of benefits that consumers hope to gain by buying “natural” products, such as “avoiding diseases, attaining health and wellness, helping the environment, assisting local farmers, assisting factory workers who would otherwise be exposed to synthetic and hazardous substances, and financially supporting the companies that share these values.”

Page 2 of the complaint shows images of the products’ front labels with the challenged representations, “natural care” and “plant-based wipes,” prominently featured. This, the complaint alleges, leads reasonable consumers to incorrectly believe that the Products are composed of only water, natural ingredients, and ingredients that come from plants and that have not undergone substantial processing[.]”

However, the complaint alleges that the wipes at issue are not the natural products consumers are looking for but instead are “greenwashed” and deceptively labeled.

The complaint quotes the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims as saying, “Marketers, nevertheless, are responsible for substantiating consumers’ reasonable understanding of ‘biobased,’ and other similar claims, such as ‘plant-based,’ in the context of their advertisements.” It also quotes the FTC as saying, “If reasonable consumers could interpret a natural claim as representing that a product contains no artificial ingredients, [] the marketer must be able to substantiate that fact.”

However, the complaint sets forth a long list of “ingredients that are not water, are not natural, and do not come from plants, and, in many instances, are artificially created, synthesized, or highly processed” but that are contained in the product. These include Butoxy PEG-4 PG-Amodimethecone, Caprylyl Glycol, Coco-Betaine, Malic Acid, Polysorbate 20, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Citrate, Glycerin, Tocopheryl Acetate, and fragrance.

The complaint claims that the company has charged consumers a premium for products that purport to be “natural” and “plant-based” “while cutting costs and reaping the financial benefits of utilizing cheaper- and easier-to-procure ingredients that are not water and either do not come from plants or were artificially created, synthesized, or subjected to substantial processing.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: All Natural Claims, Contains synthetic ingredients, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels