Fifty Shades of Grey Lubricant Is Ineffective, Class Action Says

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The Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel for Her is ineffective and it does not increase sexual pleasure as the product claims, a false advertising class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Tania Warchol of California said she purchased the lubricant, based on the bestselling novel and forthcoming movie, which will be in theaters Friday, after reading claims made on the packaging that the lubricant will lead to “enhanced orgasms and stimulation.”

The Fifty Shades of Grey class action lawsuit was filed in a California federal court against lubricant maker Love Honey, Inc., the Adam and Eve store where she purchased the product, and Fifty Shades of Grey author Erica Mitchell, who writes under the pseudonym E.L. James.

Warchol says she included the book’s author in the class action lawsuit as a defendant because the product is sold as part of the “Fifty Shades of Grey The Official Pleasure Collection Approved by E.L. James.” The packaging also includes quotations from the book, which Warchol says come across like a “consumer endorsement” by the author.

She claims that she paid $30.00 for the lubricant, which she says she purchased twice.

Despite the fact that the Fifty Shades of Grey lubricant is labeled an “Intimate Arousal Gel,” Warchol says that the product lacks the ingredients that will allow users “to experience stimulation, pleasure, and orgasm.”

The Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel for Her is made from “a blend of small amounts of extracts from herbs, roots and other organic substances,” but Warchol claims in her class action lawsuit that “none of the ingredients . . . are effective as an aphrodisiac.”

“Defendants falsely market an over-the-counter product called ‘Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel for Her’ as having beneficial and aphrodisiac properties to increase pleasure and enhance organisms, despite that none of the ingredients in the product, individually or in combination, provide such benefits,” Warchol explains in her Fifty Shades of Grey class action lawsuit.

Warchol also claims that the Fifty Shades Grey lubricant is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

According to the Fifty Shades of Grey lubricant class action lawsuit, “patient lubricants, such as the Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel for Her, are defined as a Class I Medical Device intended for medical purposes that is used to lubricate a body orifice to facilitate entry of a diagnostic or therapeutic device.

“Significantly, patient lubricants are not exempt from FDA 510(k) pre-market clearance,” the Fifty Shades of Grey class action lawsuit contends.

In addition, “when used as an accessory to a condom (a Class II medical device), the lubricant is considered, by the FDA, as a Class II Medical Device requiring 510(k) clearance.”

However, “a search of the FDA’s 510(k) public database reveals that the Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel is neither registered as a Class I Medical Device nor a Class II Medical Device,” the sexual lubricant class action lawsuit adds.

As a result of this alleged lack of FDA approval, Warchol claims that that the Fifty Shades of Grey lubricant “is being illegally marketed and sold as ‘Latex Compatible.'”

Warchol is looking to represent a nationwide class of individuals who purchased the Fifty Shades of Grey Come Alive Pleasure Gel for Her within the last four years before this class action lawsuit was filed on Feb. 5.

The California woman wants “injunctive relief in the form of modified advertising and a corrective advertising plan” and “actual damages in the amount of the total retail sales price” of the product.

The Fifty Shades of Grey class action lawsuit charges the defendants with violating California’s Unfair Competition Law and violating California’s false advertising law.

The plaintiff and the proposed class are represented by Ronald A. Marron and Skye Resendes of the Law Offices of Ronald A. Marron.

Counsel information for the defendants wasn’t immediately available.

The Fifty Shades of Grey Class Action Lawsuit is Tania Warchol (f/k/a Tania Racha) et al. v. Love Honey Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-00238, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.