Luxury skincare brand Sunday Riley has reached a formal settlement with the FTC following allegations that its employees posted false reviews on Sephora.com. Here’s how Sunday’s alleged unholy behavior was exposed:
- In October 2018, a Reddit user and former Sunday Riley staffer posted screenshots of emails in which top brass instructed employees to write three fake reviews each on Sephora.com.
- The FTC followed up on the Reddit poster’s claims to investigate—and found that Sunday Riley employees posted false reviews multiple times between November 2015 and August 2017.
About that settlement...Sunday Riley has agreed to quit publishing fake reviews. But it won’t have to refund customers or admit to past wrongdoing.
Critics of the settlement say Sunday Riley’s punishment is more of a “punishment.” Per FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra: “Dishonest firms may come to conclude that posting fake reviews is a viable strategy, given the proposed outcome here.”
My takeaway: Online reviews were supposed to endorse products people love and downvote the duds. But Sunday Riley’s case reveals that brands can weaponize the review section for their gain.
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