Target Corp. is the latest retailer facing allegations of misleadingly marketing chemical sunscreen products as safe for coral reefs, despite containing ingredients known to cause coral bleaching.
A proposed consumer class action filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York claims that the “reef-conscious formula” label on Target’s private label up&up sunscreen doesn’t disclose that its active ingredients—avobenzone, homosalate, octisalate, and octocrylene—are inconsistent with protecting coral reefs, as implied by the label.
Target Corporation, commonly known as Target, is a retail giant headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Established in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company, it was renamed Target Corporation in 2000. Target operates as a general merchandise retailer, offering a wide range of products including apparel, accessories, home goods, electronics, toys, and groceries.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has declared that the world is undergoing its fourth global coral bleaching event, the second in the last decade. NOAA, a member of the International Coral Reef Initiative (CRI), remotely monitors and predicts bleaching-level heat stress through its Coral Reef Watch (CRW) program, which utilizes sea surface temperature data from NOAA and partner satellites dating back to 1985.
Extensive heat stress has been observed across the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean basins. Despite efforts to mitigate the impact, studies indicate that 99% of the world’s coral reefs could perish by the century’s end if climate change persists. To buy time, scientists are breeding algae and corals resilient to higher temperatures, hastening the natural process of evolution. However, with oceans warming faster than anticipated, time is of the essence.
Nevertheless, Target continues to market products as “reef-safe,” prompting legal action. Despite containing bleaching agents, Target recently faced accusations of falsely labeling organic sunscreen as safe for coral reefs. According to the plaintiff’s attorney, the label breaches the environmental marketing guidelines set forth by the Federal Trade Commission.