The Italian Competition Authority reported this Friday, March 27, that it is investigating the brands Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics, owned by the conglomerate Louis Vuitton (LVMH), on suspicion of promoting, through marketing “disguised”, products for adults and children and teenagers.
According to the Italian authority, the companies “may not have made it clear that the cosmetics sold by Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics are not aimed at children and teenagers, appearing, on the contrary, to have encouraged their purchase through covert marketing strategies that involved young micro-influencers”.
The investigations are focused on “possible unfair commercial practices related to the premature use of adult cosmetics by children and adolescents”, which include children under 10 and 12 years old, “by encouraging the compulsive purchase of facial masks, serums and anti-aging creams”, indicates, in statementthe Italian Competition Authority, stating that these practices are associated with “cosmeticorexia”, an “obsession with skin care among minors”.
The possibility of relevant information being “omitted or presented in a misleading way” is being investigated, namely warnings and precautions related to cosmetics not intended for or not tested on minors, in Sephora’s online and physical stores, “particularly in relation to the Sephora Collection and Benefit Cosmetics lines”.
“Companies also appear to have adopted a strategy of marketing particularly insidious, involving very young micro-influencers who encourage the compulsive purchase of cosmetics among young people, an especially vulnerable group”, reads the note from the Competition Authority, also stating that searches were carried out at Sephora and LVMH facilities in Italy, with the collaboration of the financial police.
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