L’Oreal Settles With FTC Over Gene-Related Anti-Aging Skin Care Claims

A proposed consent agreement with FTC bars L’Oreal USA from claiming its Lancome and L’Oreal Paris skin-care products target users’ genes with anti-aging benefits. The settlement, subject to public comment and final FTC approval, follows a 2012 FDA warning that cited some of the same marketing claims.

L’Oreal SA reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission over gene-related anti-aging skin care claims two years after FDA warned the firm.

The proposed settlement between [L'Oreal USA Inc.] and FTC prohibits the firm from claiming any Lancome or L’Oreal Paris “facial skin-care product targets or boosts the activity of genes to make skin look or act younger or respond five times faster to aggressors like stress, fatigue and aging” in the absence of competent and reliable scientific evidence, according to a June 30 release from the commission.

Generally, L’Oreal must have adequate supporting evidence going forward for any marketing claims suggesting that offerings from those brands have an effect on genes, and the firm is barred from making claims “that misrepresent the results of any test or study,” FTC says.

“It would be nice if cosmetics could alter our genes and turn back time. But L’Oréal couldn’t support these claims.” – Jessica Rich, FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection director

Claims at the heart of FTC’s complaint were used in marketing Genifique and Youth Code offerings from the firm’s Lancome and L’Oreal Paris brands, respectively.

In advertising across print, radio, television, internet and social-media platforms, L’Oreal asserted products in the Genifique line were “clinically proven” to “boost genes’ activity and stimulate the production of youth proteins” for younger-looking skin in as few as seven days, and that its Youth Code range marked a “new era of skincare: gene science” that enabled consumers to “crack the code to younger-acting skin,” FTC recounts.

“It would be nice if cosmetics could alter our genes and turn back time. But L’Oreal couldn’t support these claims,” says FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Jessica Rich in the release.

FTC accepted the proposed consent agreement by a vote of 4-0-1, with Commissioner Terrell McSweeny abstaining, according to the release. The commission will publish a description of the consent agreement in the Federal Register and invite public comment through July 30 before finalizing the order.

In a same-day statement, L’Oreal stresses the claims FTC questioned were discontinued “some time ago” and that “the safety, quality and effectiveness of the company's products were never in question.”

Moreover, the firm notes the proposed settlement imposes no monetary penalties and “expressly states that L’Oreal USA does not admit any improper advertising practices.”

L’Oreal’s Lancome unit received a warning letter from FDA in September 2012 – one in a flurry of warnings issued to cosmetics companies during a 30-day period – that cited some of the same Genifique claims, which in the agency’s view identified the brand’s products as drugs (Also see "FDA Warns Lancome For Gene/Stem-Cell Claims: A Signal To Marketplace?" - Pink Sheet, 24 Sep, 2012.).

In the wake of FDA’s warning letter, the firm was targeted by consumer lawsuits for related anti-aging claims that plaintiffs allege constitute false advertising (Also see "Class-Actions Increasing As Fallout From Regulatory Action" - Pink Sheet, 12 Mar, 2014.).

L’Oreal currently markets Lancome Genifique products with claims including:

• “Wake to refreshed skin. Morning after morning, see visibly rested skin, as if you have received two extra hours of sleep.” (Genifique Night Repair Youth Activating Night Cream)
• “Acts on 10 key signs of youth, day and night.” (Advanced Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate)
• “Experience a 360˚ eye contour transformation above and below the eyes for visible results.” (Genifique Eye Light-Pearl Eye-Illuminating Youth Activating Concentrate)

Claims for items in L’Oreal Paris’ Youth Code stable include:

• “Optimizes the quality of skin’s surface by tightening pores, diminishing fine lines and revealing petal-soft skin texture.” (Youth Code Texture Perfector Day/Night Cream)
• “Boosts skin’s natural powers of regeneration so it regains the qualities of young skin – skin looks rested, smoother and youthfully luminous.” (Youth Code Youth Regenerating Skincare Day/Night Cream)
• “Instantly evens, illuminates, perfects, moisturizes and protects skin.” (Youth Code BB Cream Illuminator)