L'Oréal Boycott

11 October 2006 - In America, the multi-national Johnson & Johnson corporation have sued L’Oréal, accusing the French cosmetics company of making misleading claims about the superiority of its sunscreen products. J&J also allege that L'Oréal has used false statistics about sun protection in an attempt to substantiate these claims. [Source: Reuters]

According to the papers filed in the US District Court of New York, J&J is seeking preliminary and permanent injunctions ordering L'Oréal to stop using promotional material containing what J&J maintains are false claims, and to issue corrective advertisements to all who received the misleading materials.

J&J is also asking the court to award it triple damages of L'Oréal profit 'derived from their unlawful conduct' as well as damages to account for all J&J expenditures required to correct 'the false, misleading, unfair and disparaging' descriptions of its products.

The diversified health care products company, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is also asking that L'Oréal be forced to pay punitive damages and J&J's legal costs.

The suit claims that by making false statements to health care professionals about J&J products, 'L'Oréal threatens to damage severely the reputation and marketability of those products because doctors may no longer believe the plaintiffs' sunscreens properly protect against harmful UVA rays, when in fact they do.'

The J&J sunscreen products in question generate more than $100 million in annual US sales.

'Unless L'Oréal is ordered to cease making its false and misleading claims and issue corrective advertising, plaintiffs stand to suffer a loss of its hard-earned sales, goodwill, and consumer and physician confidence that they may never be able to recoup,' the suit charges.

A L'Oréal spokeswoman, Jennie James, said the suit had just been filed and the company had no comment to make.

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