A popular sunscreen brand is being taken to court over its use of “reef friendly” messaging on its products.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched Federal Court proceedings against Edgewell Personal Care Australia and its US-based parent company, for allegedly false or misleading claims on its popular Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat branded sunscreens.
ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said it would be alleged Edgewell Australia breached the Australian Consumer Law when it made the claims about many Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sunscreen products across its websites, social media, in retailer catalogues and in other publications.
Ms Lowe said several Hawaiian Tropic products also contained a logo on the packaging which included the words “reef friendly” and an image of a piece of coral.
She said Edgewell claimed the sunscreens were “reef friendly”, because they did not contain ‘oxybenzone or octinoxate’, chemicals which had been banned in some jurisdictions, including Hawaii, due to the damage they caused to reefs.
“However, the sunscreens contained other ingredients which the ACCC alleges either cause harm to reefs, including coral and marine life, or risk causing harm to reefs.
“These ingredients are octocrylene, homosalate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (also known as 4-MBC or enzacamene), and butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (also known as avobenzone).”
Ms Lowe said the ACCC’s case related to more than 90 Edgewell sunscreen products, sold at various times between August 2020 and December 2024 , which contained one or more of these ingredients.
She said the ACCC also alleged Edgewell were aware of scientific studies, literature or other reports that indicated the ingredients, or some of them, were known to adversely affect reefs or that there was a risk of such harm, and that neither company commissioned any testing in relation to the ingredients and their impact on reefs.
“Edgewell PCC removed ‘reef friendly’ claims from its sunscreen products in the US in around 2020, however we allege the claims continued to be made in Australia until December 2024.
“We allege that Edgewell engaged in greenwashing by making claims about the environmental benefits of Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sunscreens that it had no reasonable or scientific basis to make.”
