Honest ‘Plant-Based’ Wipes Are ‘Chock Full’ of Non-Plant-Based Ingredients, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges The Honest Company’s “plant-based” wipes are falsely advertised in that they are “chock full” of ingredients that are not derived from plants and, in many cases, are artificial or highly processed.

According to the 61-page lawsuit, The Honest Company has labeled its baby wipes and cleansing wipes as “plant-based” in order to intentionally mislead consumers into thinking the products are made from only water and plant-based ingredients, i.e., components that have been derived from plants and have not undergone substantial processing that alters their composition.

The lawsuit argues that in reality, the Honest-brand Plant-Based Baby Wipes and Plant-Based Cleansing Wipes contain a plethora of synthetic and non-plant-based chemicals, including caprylyl glycol, citric acid, ethylhexylglycerin, sodium benzoate and trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate.

Per the suit, consumers have paid a premium price for the wipes based on the belief that they are plant-based and would not have purchased the products, or would have paid less for them, had they known the “plant-based” claims were untrue.

The lawsuit contends that The Honest Company has centered its brand strategy and marketing campaigns on the representation that its products are “clean, sustainable, and well-designed,” placing special emphasis on the assertion that the items are “100% plant-based.” Indeed, the case says the “plant-based” representation can be found not only on product packaging but all over the company’s website, throughout its social media accounts and even in stockholder reports.

Contrary to this “plant-based” positioning, however, The Honest Company’s wipes contain various non-plant-based ingredients that, in many cases, are artificial, synthesized or highly processed, the complaint claims.

More specifically, the complaint says that the defendant’s Honest Plant-Based Baby Wipes contain caprylyl glycol, citric acid, decyl glucoside, ethylhexylglycerin, glycerin, sodium benzoate and trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate, all of which are synthetic or synthetically produced.

The case says Honest Plant-Based Cleansing Wipes, Hydrate + Cleanse products contain some of the aforementioned ingredients in addition to limonene, sodium chloride and sorbitan oleate decylglucoside crosspolymer, all of which “are not water or plants.”

Similarly, the lawsuit claims that Honest Plant-Based Cleansing Wipes, Nourish + Cleanse products contain, aside from some of the previously mentioned components, synthetic or synthetically produced anisaldehyde, benzaldehyde, beta-pinene, gamma-decalactone and hydrolyzed jojoba esters.

According to the case, The Honest Company has disregarded guidelines in the Federal Trade Commission’s “Green Guides” that were intended to protect consumers from “frequent and pervasive greenwashing.” Per the suit, the Green Guides specify that marketers “are responsible for substantiating consumers’ reasonable understanding of ‘biobased,’ and other similar claims, such as ‘plant-based,’ in the context of their advertisements.”

The case argues that a reasonable consumer would have no way of knowing that many of the ingredients in the Honest Plant-Based wipes do not come from plants, are artificially created or synthesized or are substantially processed. The defendant, on the other hand, was well aware that its plant-based representations were “false, misleading, deceptive, and unlawful” and caused consumers to purchase the wipes at a premium price based on this false perception, the lawsuit alleges.

The suit looks to cover anyone in the U.S. who, within the applicable statute of limitations period, purchased, not for resale, one of the following products containing the “plant-based” representation on its label or packaging:

• Honest Plant-Based Baby Wipes, including all sizes of the Blue Ikat, Classic, Pattern Play, Rose Blossom, Rainbow and Terrazzo varieties;
• Honest Plant-Based Cleansing Wipes, Hydrate + Cleanse in all sizes; and
• Honest Plant-Based Cleansing Wipes, Nourish + Cleanse in all sizes.

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