Sunday Riley Class Action: Anti-Aging Cream is Essentially ‘Snake Oil’

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Two women are suing luxury skin cream maker Sunday Riley over alleged claims that its non-FDA approved Bionic Anti-Aging Cream is marketed as a drug but it’s really akin to “modern-day snake oil.”

Plaintiffs Helena Armstrong and Lynn Moore claim to have purchased Sunday Riley’s Bionic Anti-Aging Cream online at beauty.com and nordstrom.com respectively, paying $125 each for a 1.70 ounce bottle.

Both women say they believed, based on Sunday Riley’s marketing claims, that the cream would provide anti-aging benefits, but were duped because the product did not work as advertised.

“Like a modern-day snake oil salesman, Sunday Riley … preys on consumers’ fundamental fear of aging by marketing the [cream] as if it were an FDA-approved drug that could change the physical structure and function of skin itself,” the plaintiffs state.

The FDA defines cosmetics that affect the structure of the skin as drugs. Officially, the rule states that “a product intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearance is a cosmetic. If this product claims to accomplish these deeds through physiological activity or by changing the structure of the skin, it is also a drug.”

According to the pair, Sunday Riley’s drug claims are false and misleading to the public because there’s nothing in the anti-aging cream that is effective in causing physiological changes to the structure and function of the skin and thereby preventing, repairing or reversing the effects of aging.

“The product was not approved by the FDA to be marketed as a drug, because it is not a functioning drug,” according to the plaintiffs.

Sunday Riley deceptively markets its Bionic Anti-Aging Cream as having specific drug like effects on the structure and function of the human skin and body, the lawsuit states.

For example, Sunday Riley specifically promises that “Bionic [Anti-Aging Cream] is the ‘multi-vitamin’ of anti-aging creams, combatting every anti-aging concern and cause of aging…loaded with active ingredients that help to extend the lifespan of your skin.”

The company promotes that the anti-aging skin cream “include[s] indicia of scientific research and promises of specific results for the sole purpose of misleading and deceiving consumers,” they say.

Pointing to the left side panel of the cream’s packaging, the lawsuit notes that Sunday Riley lists a number of key ingredients to support its anti-aging claims by stating that each of these ingredients are scientifically proven to provide anti-aging benefits by changing the structure and function of the skin. Each of the ingredients listed has a lengthy explanation of its purported function.

However, Sunday Riley places an asterisk next to the phrase “Key Ingredients” which links to a small font disclaimer that states many of these explanations stem from alternative medicine and that the statements provided are not approved by the FDA, the plaintiffs argue.

The plaintiffs further assert that Sunday Riley dupes consumers with these alleged false and misleading promises when in fact Bionic Anti-Aging Cream does not live up to the claims made by the company.

Armstrong and Moore are seeking to represent two proposed Classes of consumers in New York and California who purchased the anti-aging cream.

The plaintiffs are represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Sunday Riley Bionic Anti-Aging Cream Class Action Lawsuit is Armstrong v. Sunday Riley, Case No. 1:16-cv-09329, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.