Johnson and Johnson made false claims about sunscreen
Published19 Dec 1996
The Commerce Commission said today that, in its view, Johnson and Johnson has made false claims about one of its sunscreens, Sundown Broad Spectrum SPF30, and may have breached the Fair Trading Act.
Commission Chairman Dr Alan Bollard said Johnson and Johnson has, as part of a settlement with the Commission, relabelled the sunscreen, is offering to exchange or give refunds for it and will publish notices advertising this offer.
Johnson and Johnson has relabelled the sunscreen to no longer claim that it retains its full SPF 30 sun protection after two hours immersion in water. The sunscreen's sun protection reduces greatly after it has been in water.
The label also implied an endorsement by the Cancer Society of New Zealand. The Cancer Society had not endorsed the sunscreen.
Dr Bollard said he was disappointed with Johnson and Johnson's marketing of the sunscreen and with its initial response to the Commission's concerns.
"Companies selling products with implications for health and safety have particular responsibilities to their customers. They should adhere to the very best standards of marketing behaviour.
"This product did not do what was claimed for it and this placed customers, and their children in particular, at risk of sunburn. Children spend a lot of their time in summer playing in water, and this sunscreen lost much of its sun protection if people went into the water."
Johnson and Johnson at first refused to change its marketing.
It was only after the Commission began court action against it under the Fair Trading Act that Johnson and Johnson finally offered to change its marketing.
The Act prohibits false or misleading claims about goods or services.
"We have taken the unusual step of accepting a settlement after court action had begun, so that this matter can be resolved quickly before the summer holidays," Dr Bollard said. "The court action would not have been resolved for some months.
"In this case we were not only concerned that the Act may have been breached, but there is also a significant health issue, sunburn. People relying on Johnson and Johnson's claims may have been exposed to personal danger. They will not know the extent of that danger for several years.
"Parents could easily have believed that this sunscreen was water proof, that it would retain its protection while their children were in water and that they did not need to put more on after their children played in water.
"People must be able to rely on statements made by manufacturers of sunscreens because they cannot test the claims themselves before they use the sunscreen. If the claims are untrue, people get sunburn which could lead to skin cancer problems in later years."
The Commission has agreed to this settlement and to withdraw its court action because it considers it extremely important to have these problems fixed before summer. The Commission would have sought court orders similar to the terms of the settlement and also a fine against Johnson and Johnson. However, the court case would not have ended until after summer.
