Class Action Claims Good Housekeeping Publisher Sold, Rented Subscriber Mailing Lists Without Consent

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A proposed class action alleges Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day publisher Hearst Communications has violated an Ohio privacy law by renting and selling lists containing personal subscriber information without the individuals’ consent to do so.

According to the case, the Ohio Right of Publicity Law (ORPL) prohibits the use of an individual's “persona”—including their name, voice, signature, photograph, image, likeness or distinctive appearance—for a commercial purpose without that person’s written consent to do so.

The suit alleges Hearst’s sale and rental of mailing lists filled with subscribers’ names, addresses and various demographic details to “anyone willing to pay for them” is prohibited by state law, in particular given the publisher has failed to obtain written consent from subscribers to make money using their identities. According to the suit, a mailing list containing the identifying information of all 1.7 million-plus Good Housekeeping subscribers in the United States is available for a base price of “$115.00/M [per thousand].”

“The ORPL clearly prohibits what Hearst has done,” the complaint contends, alleging Hearst has “surreptitiously” sold and rented its mailing lists to data miners, data aggregators, data cooperatives, list brokers, marketing companies, and generally any public party “willing to pay for them,” without so much as notifying subscribers, much less obtaining their permission to use their identities.

The lawsuit further alleges that Hearst’s monetization of subscriber information is not only unlawful but dangerous because it puts subscribers, particularly “the more vulnerable members of society,” at risk of being targeted by scammers and other nefarious actors.

“While Hearst profits handsomely from the use of its customers’ identities in this way, it does so at the expense of its Ohio customers’ statutory right of publicity,” the lawsuit contests.

According to the case, the magazines published by Hearst include Bicycling, Car and Driver, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Elle, Elle Decor, Esquire, Food Network Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, HGTV Magazine, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics, Prevention, Road & Track, Runner’s World, Town and Country, Veranda, Woman’s Day, and Women’s Health, as well as its flagship publication Good Housekeeping.

The lawsuit looks to represent Ohio residents who, during the relevant statutory period, had their names appear on or in connection with a subscriber mailing list sold or rented by Hearst without their written consent.

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