By: Jackie Sears
The most ironic
scandal that has appeared in the media in the past year involves Jessica Alba’s
‘Honest’ products. Alba co-founded a $1.7 billion brand called The Honest
Company that cherishes its natural and safe ingredients supplied in its
products.
In 2015, The Honest
Company was under a $5 million lawsuit that was brought on by a customer named
John D. Rubin who claimed that some of the Honest products, weren’t honest. Products
in The Honest Company have found to be mixed with unnatural ingredients and an ineffective
product has surfaced to public eye. This lawsuit claimed under the brand’s so
called “natural” ingredients included unnatural ingredients found in its products such as: hand soap to dish soap, diapers and its multi-surface cleaner. The
claim specifically shined light on the brand’s sunscreen that had major
backlash and caused many customer complaints because of major sunburns.
According to
Benoit’s Image Restoration Strategy, Alba’s brand took step one and shifted the
responsibility by acknowledging that there were some issues with the sunscreen
in the past. With this claim, it reached step two of image restoration by evading
responsibility highlighting the accident. The Honest Company handled the
situation by releasing a statement that it would have a third-party testing to
ensure the product as safe and healthy for its customers to hush claims over
the sunscreen crisis that caused customer’s sunburns. The company had
previously shifted its ingredients and released the product to the public
before these claims, it hasn’t changed anything since.
The third step
of the image repair theory was reached when Alba’s brand reached out to people
who posted on social media about the potentially faulty sunscreen to ensure that it was out
for its customer’s satisfaction and trust. With this action, the brand was
compensating with the customers by reaching out to who had a bad experience
with the sunscreen. The company also encourages people to express their
concerns over any product and claimed it will do what is right for customer
satisfaction in its product. By doing this, the company is working transparently to ensure its customer's trust.
The final step
of the image restoration strategy is mortification. Although the brand did not
formally apologize for the sunscreen, it did take note to test and ensure its
product for customer safety and released a statement that its customer’s
concerns and confidence is important to the brand.
Overall, The Honest Company has used the consequentialism theory by serving the greatest good for the greatest number. It takes in concerns of its customers, but it listened to the majority that has not had a bad experience with the sunscreen after third-party testing.
Overall, The Honest Company has used the consequentialism theory by serving the greatest good for the greatest number. It takes in concerns of its customers, but it listened to the majority that has not had a bad experience with the sunscreen after third-party testing.
The Honest Company explains the sunscreen should be applied 15 minutes before going outside and evenly on the skin, whereas people who have had bad experiences may have not applied it correctly.
The brand since
then has released a disclaimer that it is not a perfect company and as
science and research improves, it will improve its products with it.
Sources Cited
Alesci, C., & Wattles, J. (2015, August 4). Jessica
Alba's Honest Company defends its sunscreen. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/04/news/companies/jessica-alba-honest-company-sunscreen/
Moran, G. (2015, September 8). Jessica Alba's Honest Company
is expanding—just as shoppers are questioning "natural" products.
Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/09/08/alba-honest-company-beauty-line/
Nauman, Z. (2015, September 3). 'Honest isn't': Jessica
Alba's nontoxic natural product company facing $5 million lawsuit after claims
items they sell are ineffective and contain chemicals. Retrieved from
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3221953/Honest-isn-t-Jessica-Alba-s-nontoxic-natural-product-company-facing-lawsuit-claims-items-sells-ineffective-contain-chemicals.html
The Honest Company. (2015, August 3). A message from the
founders. Retrieved from https://blog.honest.com/a-message-from-the-founders/#
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