Notice2023-03560
The Bountiful Company; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
February 22, 2023
Issuing agencies
Federal Trade Commission
Abstract
The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that would settle these allegations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 22, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10901-10902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03560]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
[File No. 222 3019]
The Bountiful Company; Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid
Public Comment
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission.
ACTION: Proposed consent agreement; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged
violations of Federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or
practices. The attached Analysis of Proposed Consent Order to Aid
Public Comment describes both the allegations in the complaint and the
terms of the consent order--embodied in the consent agreement--that
would settle these allegations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 24, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may file comments online or on paper by
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Please write ``The Bountiful
Company; File No. 222 3019'' on your comment and file your comment
online at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> by following the instructions on
the web-based form. If you prefer to file your comment on paper, please
mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610
(Annex P), Washington, DC 20580.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Ostheimer (202-326-2699),
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal
Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule Sec. 2.34, 16 CFR
2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement
containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with
and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been
placed on the public record for a period of 30 days. The following
Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent
agreement and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of
the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained at
<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions">https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/commission-actions</a>.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to
consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 24, 2023.
Your comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable,
on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
Because of heightened security screening, postal mail addressed to
the Commission will be subject to delay. We strongly encourage you to
submit your comments online through the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write ``The Bountiful
Company; File No. 222 3019'' on your comment and on the envelope, and
mail your comment to the following address: Federal Trade Commission,
Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC-5610
(Annex P), Washington, DC 20580.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible
website at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, you are solely responsible for
making sure your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential
information. In particular, your comment should not include sensitive
personal information, such as your or anyone else's Social Security
number; date of birth; driver's license number or other state
identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also
solely responsible for making sure your comment does not include
sensitive health information, such as medical records or other
individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment
should not include any ``trade secret or any commercial or financial
information which . . . is privileged or confidential''--as provided by
Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule Sec.
4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2)--including competitively sensitive
information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas,
patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is
requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled
``Confidential,'' and must comply with FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(c). In
particular, the written request for confidential treatment that
accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for
the request and must identify the specific portions of the comment to
be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(c). Your
comment will be kept confidential only if the General Counsel grants
your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Once
your comment has been posted on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>
website--as
[[Page 10902]]
legally required by FTC Rule Sec. 4.9(b)--we cannot redact or remove
your comment from that website, unless you submit a confidentiality
request that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule
Sec. 4.9(c), and the General Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at <a href="http://www.ftc.gov">http://www.ftc.gov</a> to read this document
and the news release describing the proposed settlement. The FTC Act
and other laws the Commission administers permit the collection of
public comments to consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate.
The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments
it receives on or before March 24, 2023. For information on the
Commission's privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the
Privacy Act, see <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy">https://www.ftc.gov/site-information/privacy-policy</a>.
Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To Aid Public Comment
The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') has
accepted, subject to final approval, an agreement containing a consent
order from The Bountiful Company (``Bountiful''). The proposed consent
order (``proposed order'') has been placed on the public record for
thirty days for receipt of comments from interested persons. Comments
received during this period will become part of the public record.
After 30 days, the Commission will again review the agreement and the
comments received and will decide whether it should withdraw from the
agreement and take appropriate action or make final the agreement's
proposed order.
This matter involves Bountiful's alleged manipulation of the
<a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> product pages for a number of its Nature's Bounty and
Sundown brand dietary supplement products. Bountiful is a vendor to
Amazon, Inc., which allows its vendors to create or submit requests to
create ``variation'' relationships between products sold on <a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a>
that are substantially similar, like a shirt which is available in
different sizes and colors. The product detail page of products that
are in a variation relationship displays the total number of ratings
and reviews, the average star rating, and the individual reviews for
all the products in the variation relationship. All the products in a
variation relationship also share any ``#1 Best Seller'' or ``Amazon's
Choice'' badges.
According to the Commission's proposed complaint, during 2020 and
2021, Bountiful submitted requests to Amazon to create numerous
variation relationships involving products with different formulations.
The proposed complaint quotes a Bountiful employee explaining that they
did this with new products to ``try and ramp them faster as they were
NOT selling and we wanted to give them a little boost in
R[atings]&R[eviews] to gain visibility and allow them to also borrow
the `amazon choice' badge and best seller badge which worked.''
The proposed complaint alleges that Bountiful violated Sections
5(a) and 12 of the FTC Act by misrepresenting that: (a) the apparent
reviewers of certain of its products sold on <a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> had used and
endorsed the products; (b) certain of its products sold on <a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a>
had received the numbers of customer ratings appearing on their
<a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> product pages; (c) certain of its products sold on
<a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> had obtained the average star ratings displayed on their
<a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> product pages; (d) certain of its products sold on
<a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> were number one best sellers; and (e) certain of its
products sold on <a href="http://Amazon.com">Amazon.com</a> had earned an Amazon's Choice badge.
The proposed order contains provisions designed to prevent
Bountiful from engaging in similar acts and practices in the future and
to provide monetary relief.
Provision I prohibits Bountiful from making any misrepresentation
about or through the ratings, reviews, badges, or endorsements of any
of its products or services, including false claims that someone
reviewed or used the product or service or about the number of ratings
or reviews the product or service has, its average star rating, its
having earned an Amazon's Choice badge, or its being a best seller.
Provision II prohibits Bountiful from distorting or otherwise
misrepresenting what consumers think of its products or services by
creating relationships between different products sold online or by
procuring, suppressing, boosting, organizing, selectively publishing,
up-voting, down-voting, or editing consumer reviews or ratings of its
products or services.
Provision III requires Bountiful to pay the Commission $600,000
within eight days of the effective date of the order. Provision IV sets
out additional requirements related to the monetary relief.
Provisions V through VIII of the proposed order are reporting and
compliance provisions. Provision V requires acknowledgement of the
order and dissemination of the order now and in the future to persons
with responsibilities relating to the subject matter of the order.
Provision VI ensures notification to the FTC of changes in corporate
status and mandates that the company submit an initial compliance
report to the FTC. Provision VII requires the company to create and
retain certain documents relating to its compliance with the order.
Provision VIII mandates that the company make available to the FTC
information or subsequent compliance reports, as requested. Provision
IX states that the proposed order will remain in effect for 20 years,
with certain exceptions.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the
proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official
interpretation of the complaint or proposed order, or to modify in any
way the proposed order's terms.
By direction of the Commission.
April J. Tabor,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-03560 Filed 2-21-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on February 22, 2023.
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