Most Ingredients In ‘Plant-Based’ Neutrogena Makeup Remover Towelettes Are Synthetic, Greenwashing Lawsuit Says

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges purportedly “plant-based” and “compostable” Neutrogena Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes are “greenwashed” given that the majority of the products’ ingredients are decidedly synthetic and non-plant-based.

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The 29-page false advertising suit against manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc. says that 13 of the 15 ingredients in the makeup-remover products—Ultra Soft Cleansing Towelettes and Hydro Boost Cleansing Towelettes—are not plant-based as advertised, and that the company has misleadingly marketed the products in a manner that leads consumers to rely on the false plant-based representations.

The suit accuses Johnson & Johnson Consumer of having profited from consumers’ preference for products touted as natural, clean and environmentally friendly, and of effectively “greenwashing” the makeup remover towelettes to make the products appear more environmentally friendly than they actually are.

“Unfortunately, rather than truly creating the plant-based products that consumers desire, Defendant has just repackaged a principally synthetic product and deceptively marketed it as ‘plant-based,’ thereby misleading reasonable consumers and violating the law,” the filing charges.

The synthetic, non-plant-based ingredients in the makeup remover towelettes include decyl isostearate, isopropyl isostearate, dimethicone, isohexadecane, hexylene glycol, peg-6 caprylic/capric glycerides, trisiloxane, phenoxyethanol, sucrose cocoate, chlorphenesin, polysorbate 20, acrylates/c10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer, and sodium hydroxide, the lawsuit shares. By weight, the case says, these ingredients account for the “2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th most prominent ingredients in the Product.”

The Neutrogena makeup remover towelette lawsuit looks to cover anyone who bought the products during the applicable statute of limitations period.

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