Vanity Rehab

Showing posts with label Cosmetic claims. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2013

PINKWASHING - The Ugly side of Pink ribbon Cosmetics.

Think October and you get a picture of Navratri/Dusshera's festivity, fun and frolic. Now, think Cosmetics in October and you are going to get a picture of people posting 'Pink pout selfies' or 'pink coloured ootds' and definitely: "Pink ribbons" on "pink coloured cosmetics".Yes,'October' is the official "Breast cancer awareness month" and that's why this month is even called as
"Pinktober".

Previously, we talked about Greenwashing and today you are going to see the
pink side of it!

Breast cancer is a fatal disease that affects millions of women worldwide. Now, how couldn't we expect the cosmetic industry to dip their dirty fingers or...should i say 'dirty cosmetics' in this issue and make a profit out of it???

So,let us talk a little about a very important issue called...

Pinkwashing!

So,what is pinkwashing?

Yes, that is what 'pinkwashing' exactly means.The cosmetic companies come up with a 'pink ribbon' collection at this time of the year and claims to care about breast cancer even while using Carcinogens, Hormone disruptors and other toxic ingredients in the making of their "Pink" products.

To sell these products they use marketing strategies that play to consumer's emotions.Consumers feel that they are supporting a great cause by buying those products.But for the cosmetic companies its just about making profit.This is called pure profit targeted "Cause marketing" where the companies claim to donate so and so percentage of the total sales to an organisation but the largest chunk of it goes in to their own mouth.

I agree.

Here's a little info graphic which shows us the true face of the money-minded cosmetic companies.

According to the surveys, as many as 9 in 10 cases of breast cancer have no family history (i.e., they are not genetic) and may be caused by a variety of environmental exposures, like hormone disruptors in everyday products. The use of hormone disruptors is not uncommon in the cosmetics industry, and is not prohibited or regulated by the law in many countries (Including India).
Read these posts: The game of cosmetic regulation & Cosmetic regulatory bodies of India and USA.

So, the majority of research, market ideology, and activist campaigns must shift to preventing women from getting the disease whenever possible, rather than treating women once they have it.

So, people, It's time to follow the Old but Gold saying: "Prevention is better than cure".

Here's another handy infographic.

And here's an interesting but Shocking piece of info regarding the "history of the pink ribbon":

The pink ribbon was originally neither pink nor was it intended to be used as a marketing tool. It was a peach ribbon developed in the early 1990s by Charlotte Haley, who watched her daughter, sister and grandmother suffer from breast cancer. Angry and determined to start a grassroots movement, Charlotte sat down at her dining room table and crafted thousands of peach ribbons by hand. She bundled them into sets of five, each with a card that read: “The National Cancer Institute annual budget is $1.8 billion; only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention.” She distributed the bundles at her local supermarket and wrote to Dear Abby and other prominent women to call attention to the campaign.

At that time, breast cancer was just starting to come out of the closet, and a couple of major corporations had big plans. "Estee Lauder" and "Self magazine" teamed up to create the second annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month issue, and they envisioned a breast cancer ribbon displayed on cosmetics counters from coast to coast. But somebody already had a breast cancer ribbon, they were told. So, they called up Charlotte Haley offering to partner with her and take her "peach ribbon national".

“She wanted nothing to do with us. Said we were too commercial,” Self magazine editor Alexandra Penney explained to MAMM magazine.

For Charlotte, the ribbon was a tool to inspire women to become politically active, not to sell products. But her vision was not to be realized. Estee Lauder and Self really wanted that ribbon. Their lawyers advised them to choose another color. They chose pink, a life-affirming color known for its calming, quieting, stress-reducing effects.

So that’s where the pink ribbon was born. And Charlotte Haley’s peach ribbon just kind of disappeared, inundated under pink ribbons ever after. -Excerpt from “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry,” by Stacy Malkan.

So,form there on the 'ribbon' sort of lost its original purpose and turned in to a
commercial "money making tool".

So,ladies...let us just not get lured by this pink bait anymore. Let us think beyond just flashing Pink pouts and buying toxic pink ribbon cosmetics.

As much as possible, try to avoid using and promoting cosmetics laden with toxic ingredients.

If you really want to support this cause, you better make the donation directly to any non-profit organisation or look out for truly natural cosmetic companies who may take this initiative genuinely.

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Love,
Siri.

I downloaded the images and backgrounds online and edited them with text and effects to suit this post.

Original image's source: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7-i made it,8 and 9.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

GREENWASHING - The truth behind the so called "GREEN" and "CLEAN" cosmetics.

So,how many times have you fallen prey for the cosmetic products which seem to be nothing but 'GREEN' (100%Natural,Organic,Botanical,Pure Ayurvedic/Herbal,Safe/Eco-friendly ingredients etc., etc.,) only to find out later that most of them were anything but GREEN?

Sooooooo many times.. right?

I know.Each and everyone of us have gone through this and some of us are going through or are going to go through it.

So,let me throw some light on the next level of "The Claim Game" called.....

So,what is GREENWASHING?

When a company, government or other group promotes green-based environmental initiatives or images but actually operates in a way that is damaging to the environment or in an opposite manner to the goal of the announced initiatives. This can also include misleading customers about the environmental benefits of a product through misleading advertising and unsubstantiated claims. Source

“Green” in the case of cosmetics can mean they aren’t using harmful chemical or synthetic ingredients, their ingredients or packaging are environmentally friendly, they stick to environmentally sustainable business practices, their products are certified organic, etc.,

And when these claims turn out to be false,it can be labelled as "GREENWASHING".

The companies mislead consumers about the Therapeutic benefits,Harmlessness and 'Green'ness of their products by claiming that they are Natural,Organic,Safe and filled with chock full of beneficial ingredients.They mask the product with leafy,flowery,fruity,rustic-old world etc., labels which shout GREEN & CLEAN and lures the consumer in to their trap.

just like this..

And then they advertise as if their products contains majority of whatever natural ingredients they are singing songs about.

But,could it be true?

In India,99.9% of the times its a BIG NO!
The product does contain the natural ingredients that the company is singing songs about,but in most cases you'll find it not at the top,not even middle but at the bottom of the list! We may even see the results that they claimed..but wait,it could be the synthetic ingredients doing their job and we start believing that it is the miracle of that so and so natural ingredient.

Usually,the percentage of harmful chemicals:natural/safe ingredients in this kind of products
ranges from 7:3 to 9:1 respectively.

At this ratio,it is impossible for the natural ingredients do any justice to the claims being made by the company.And the harmful chemical ingredients that fill up the rest of the product may prove toxic not only to us but to our nature too.They claim that their products are ORGANIC when in fact they contain only one or two such ingredients and the rest are sourced from non-organic farming where they use conventional pesticides and harmful chemicals which are toxic to our nature to grow their crops.All the above points prove that the GREEN claims made by the company were OUTRIGHT FALSE!

To mask the quantity of the product's harmful chemical content,some clever companies provide incomplete ingredient list! They mention just the Key/Active ingredients and leave the rest to our imagination!

The seemingly Pure Ayurvedic/Herbal comsetics are no exception.They claim that the product is made using age old ayurvedic recipes and ya..it does contain the ingredients of the original recipe.But, here's the catch: That herbal recipe is suspended in a base of conventional chemical ingredients.Most of them usually don't reveal the contents of their base.

Seemingly GREEN Colour cosmetics/Makeup (including mineral cosmetics) are no exception either! Many of them are following the same trend!

So,why are the cosmetic companies doing this?

Because,when the cosmetic companies learnt about the current GREEN trend,they also learnt that it would cost a fortune for them to substitute those cheaply available toxic synthetic chemicals with pricey natural and safe equivalents. By hook or by crook they wanted to follow the trend and make huge profits.So,GREENWASHING came to their rescue!

Good P.R.Move!? Ya,exactly..that's how these GREENWASHING cosmetic companies are running their business.

I wonder if there really are such "Greenwash inc."s out there...or...may i say,'in' there!

The words like "Natural,Botanical,Pure Ayurvedic/Herbal,Safe etc.," on cosmetics have no clear definitions and regulations.

So,can't you do anything to save ourselves from this greenwashing menace?

Yes,you absolutely can!

Here are some tips which could help you:

Never ever blindly believe when a product says that it is all natural.They may say so but they may not be so.
Never fall for the seemingly GREEN & CLEAN packaging or labels.They may look so but they may not be so.
Don't go by those misleading commercials.They show angelic looking models in natural looking sets and sing songs about the miraculous results that so and so ingredient they used in their product is going to give you.There may hardly be any truth in those claims and it could be the synthetic ingredients doing justice to those claims.
Learn about the 'harmful synthetic ingredients to avoid' in cosmetics.(This is one of my upcoming posts)
Always check the full ingredient list and where on the list are those natural ingredients placed.
If the product contains only key/active ingredient's list, then by all means 'suspect it'.
Beware of the words like "100%Natural,Organic,Botanical,Pure Ayurvedic/Herbal,Safe/Eco-friendly" on cosmetics.Because, they have no clear definitions and regulations.
Check to see if that product has any certification from reliable natural and organic cosmetic certification bodies like these:

Some of the certification bodies in the above pic are international.There are some indian certifying bodies too which i need to research more about.I'll definitely do a post about it in the future.

This pic below contains some tips which apply to Cosmetic Greenwashing:

The 10 signs of greenwashing:

The 7 sins of GREENWASHING.

Click HERE to read those 7 sins.

Hope this article about GREENWASHING was helpful.

And wait!

This does not end here!

Wait for the PINK side of it in my next post!

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Love,

Siri.

NOTE: I dowloaded the images from different locations and edited all the images myself to make them suitable for this article.

Original image sources: 1,2,3,4 to 11-Google images,12,13.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Cosmetic Labels 101: The "claim" game.

Hello girls :)

This is the third article in the series "Cosmetic Labels 101".This article reveals to you all "the game of claims".

We almost always fall for those extravagant product claims..don't we? And don't you feel cheated when a product does/contains nothing like what it claimed? Let's see how this claim game is played by the cosmetic industry.

According to the "Cosmetics and Consumers" document on consumereducation.in :

"No industry makes more extravagant claims for its products than the cosmetic industry."

And i 100% agree with that statement! For how long have we been seeing the "Get 7 shades fairer in 14 days" S**t ??? and we all know how fake those claims are!(Forget 14 days,One of my cousin's family is using one of such c**p for more than 14 yrs now and their skin has not lightened even by 1 shade! Inturn,their skin got damaged beyond repair!!)

This does not stop at fairness creams.It applies to 99.9% of the products we see in the commercials!(including toothpastes!yes,toothpaste is considered a cosmetic too.)

And do you know that the cosmetic companies are allowed to exaggerate their claims to some extent so that it helps in selling their products?

And such exaggerations, which are permitted in advertising is generally referred to as "puffery".

But sometimes these claims exceed to such an extent that the consumer is left cheated.And there is even a term called "emotional ingredient" meaning, an ingredient whose mention on the label will tempt the customer to buy it. For example,they incorporate some very well known beneficial stuff like almond oil/roses/strawberries/saffron/milk/some ayurvedic herbs etc., in their creams, lotions, shampoos etc.,and sing songs about that ingredient's presence to glory! However,the reality is,most of the times the product contains too little amounts of that 'ingredient in the limelight' to show any kind of benefits it is believed to provide.

So,aren't there any government/legal authorities who can control claims made by the cosmetic companies? Yes there are, But they don't seem to be bothered about this issue at all! If you've read my previous posts in this series you know who they are.If you haven't, then i suggest you read THIS and THIS posts first.

Now,lets see what one of the officials of the FDA has to say about this issue...

According to John Bailey, Director, Office of Cosmetics and Colours, Food and Drug Administration, U.S.A.,

“Cosmetic industry sells an image and consumers can choose to believe those claims or not.”

!!!!!Ok Mr.,Now that you are giving "us" the choice,We choose NOT TO!!!!!

Baby products are included in this game too! Keep reading..

the following info is from consumereducation.in :

In the recent past, the Maharashtra FDA has been taking a number of consumer goods companies to task on various consumer related issues. The most high profile so far has been the notices sent to

Johnson and Johnson and Wipro for their respective “baby oils” containing mineral oil, believed to be unfit for babies.

FDA, Maharashtra, investigated baby products manufactured by M/s Johnson and Johnson Ltd. on the basis of a complaint received from the parent of a child in Amravati, Maharashtra. The complainant had alleged that he had purchased Baby Oil, Batch Number, BM 3161,D/M Oct. 2003, for his child and the child was massaged by this oil. As a consequence of using this oil, the baby developed blisters on his skin.The use of the said baby oil was stopped on medical advise and thereafter the blisters also subsided. Then a complaint was lodged. As a consequence of the complaint, FDA Maharashtra investigated the complaint by collecting information from Johnson and Johnson, Ltd. relating to product composition, method of manufacturing, method of testing, redressal of public complaints in respect of Johnson’s Baby Oil.FDA Maharashtra also decided to investigate other Johnson Baby Products along with “Johnson Baby Oil” for the label claims.

Lets see what they found...

1) Johnson’s Baby Oil

2) Johnson’s Baby Hair Oil.

3) Baby Shampoo.

4) Johnson’s Baby Milk Soap

5) Johnson’s Baby Moisturizing Soap and Johnson’s Baby Moisturizing
Soap Blossoms

6) Johnson’s Baby Lotion

7) Johnson’s Baby Milk Lotion

Shocking! Isn't it?

A show cause notice was issued to M/s Johnson and Johnson on 15th March 2005 in respect of all the baby products manufactured by them.FDA Maharashtra gave time to the company till 01/08/2005 to substantiate its claims, failing which it will take action.As a provincial regulator,the FDA does not have power to directly take any required action on the manufacturers.

It's 2012 and we still see 'Mineral oil' as the main ingredient on the label of johnson & johnson's baby oil!!!

This is India babes..we know how all the legal stuff gets managed here.If you're ready to feed the money hungry people you can even getaway with 'Arsenic' as the active ingredient! :-/

Not only 'johnson & johnson' but almost every commercial baby product manufacturer out there make false claims and uses harmful ingredients which you shouldn't be using on your baby's pure and precious skin/hair.And then they load up their ads with million tons of 'Mother-Baby' sentiment to sell their products.

So,ladies..ditch those commercial baby products and pamper you baby's skin with gentle all natural stuff which your grandma would've used on you.

And that is not the end of it..

The area in which the consumer is most exploited, cheated and mislead is the claim of ‘Naturals’ and ‘Herbals’ in cosmetic products.

Words on labels like "natural","safe" and "pure" have no definition in law and no relationship to the hazard inside the packaging.Acceptable levels of risk are entirely at the panel's (FDA's) discretion.

The California Department of Human Services found in a random sample of herbal stores that nearly one third of these “natural” remedies contained either heavy metals (such as lead, arsenic and mercury) or undeclared pharmaceuticals.

In order to understand what the “natural’ label says about a drug or cosmetic product, consumers need to understand how the government regulates the claim of natural. The Government agencies are still working in this direction and hence there are no regulations or guidelines, regarding the use of ‘plant derived’ claims on these products.

Recently, Maharashtra FDA has taken steps to check this trend by sending show cause notices to Ozone Pharmaceuticals for their ‘No Marks’ skin cream and sought certain clarifications from the company.According to FDA officials, the advertised claims of Ozone Ayruvedics,who are the manufacturers of the ‘No Marks’ range of personal care products revealed that the company has been making misleading claims about the ‘No Marks’ cream, as it contains antibacterial and hyperaemic(blood circulation enhancing) agents in it, which comes under the category of drugs.

Hair dyes selling as Kali Mehandi has been found to contain Para Phenylene Diamine (PPD) along with Henna by a consumer activist group and reported in CONSUMER VOICE.

OTHER COSMETIC COMPANIES HAULED UP BY FDA MAHARASHTRA:

• Wipro – Baby Oil

• Emami

• Wipro Consumer care

• Ozone Ayruvedics ‘No Marks’ Personal Care Products

• R S Hair Care – Ayurvedic Hair Dye

And there are thousands of companies like these out there which are making false claims and cheating millions of consumers.

Here are some of the loophole's in canadian law which also applies in India:

*Products marketed as "Fragrance free" or "Unscented" may contain fragrance ingredients in the form of 'masking agents' that prevent the brain from perceiving odour.

*Products regulated as "Drugs" on the basis of therapeutic claims (e.g.,tartar fighting toothpaste,bacteria-killing cleansers,face cream with sun protection) are only required to list 'active' ingredients.not complete list as required for products regulated as cosmetics.

Now this point takes us to the new kid on the block: "Cosmeceuticals"

Cosmeceuticals are topical cosmetic-pharmaceutical hybrids,intended to enhance the beauty through ingredients that provide additional health-related function or benefit. They are applied topically as cosmetics, but contain ingredients that influence the biological function of skin.

Though the claims made about drugs are subject to high scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval process, cosmetics are however not subject to mandatory FDA review.Much confusion exists regarding the status of ‘cosmeceuticals’. Although,there is no legal class called cosmeceuticals, this term has found application and recognition to designate the products at the border line between cosmetics and drugs. Cosmetics that make therapeutic claims are regulated as 'drugs and cosmetics' and must meet the labeling requirements for both. For such product, the regulations require that active ingredients be listed first on these products, followed by the list of cosmetic ingredients in order of decreasing predominance. Active ingredient is the chemical that makes the product effective and the manufacturer must have proof that it is safe for its intended use.

Some products that come under the "cosmeceuticals" category are: 'Products containing AHAs/BHAs/Retinoids','Anti aging creams with pharmaceutical grade actives','Dandruff shampoo','tar tar fighting toothpaste', etc.,

unsupervised or over use of some products containing such pharmaceutical grade actives may cause serious damage.

And finally,here's a table from Data on Indian Cosmetic Industry comparing three different cosmetic regulatory bodies of the world.You can see how weak our Indian cosmetic regulations are.

Need i say more?

ppphhheeewww!!! such a long post! But wait, this game isn't over yet! There's one more level called "Greenwashing". So,in the next article let's see how that level is played ;)

Love,
Siri
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NOTE: I referred many reliable resources which are listed below to gather this information.

References:

consumereducation.in LINK

safecosmetics.org LINK

davidsuzuki.org LINK

docstoc.com LINK

cdsco.nic.in LINK

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