SC Johnson fragrance ingredient disclosure program reaches a milestone

19-Jul-2018 - Last updated on 19-Jul-2018 at 14:02 GMT

Consumer behavior isn’t neatly compartmentalized by industry; and the expectations of beauty shoppers aren’t limited by the practices of cosmetics and personal care makers—which is to say that SC Johnson’s latest accomplishment in scent transparency will impact consumer packaged goods brands across the board.

For nearly 10 years, SC Johnson has been adjusting its corporate policy on ingredient disclosure in response to consumer requests for more information on allergens as well as to pressure from more transparent niche and startup household and beauty brands. “SC Johnson firmly believes that consumers deserve to know what's in the products they use,” says Kelly M. Semrau, senior vice president of global corporate affairs, communication, and sustainability, in a media release about the company’s latest fragrance ingredient transparency milestone.

“We began disclosing fragrance ingredients by product in 2015, and have been disclosing hundreds of these ingredients down to .01% for more than a year,” she tells the press.

And that’s the benchmark SC Johnson is celebrating: being the “first major CPG company to disclose fragrance ingredients down to .01% globally,” according to the release.

Ingredient facts

SC Johnson launched a website called WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com in 2009. Later, the company began listing even fragrance ingredients out by product, as Cosmetics Design reported.

Most recently, in 2017, the company voluntarily started “disclosing, on a product-specific basis, the presence of 368 skin allergens that may occur in its products,” explains the SC Johnson media release. “This move goes beyond regulations in the European Union and also in the United States, where there are no rules requiring allergen transparency.”

Information sharing

For corporations and brands like SC Johnson these disclosure programs are as much about consumer education as they are about transparency. “Sharing more about product ingredients is good for families and important for the industry as a whole,” says Semrau. “We are pleased to see that our industry peers are following our lead and taking steps toward greater transparency.”

For instance, while many fastidious shoppers expect smaller clean and green brands to have an ingredient ‘no-no’ list, it may be less widely known that “the SC Johnson Fragrance Palette excludes about 2,400 ingredients that don't meet the company's high standards even though they meet industry standards and are legal in commerce,” according to the company media release.

And SC Johnson has taken the list craze a step further in an effort to inform consumers about the care, attention, and investment the company makes in safe ingredient selection: “Earlier this year, SC Johnson unveiled the scientific criteria behind its Greenlist program, which guides how it selects ingredients to protect human health and the environment.”

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Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.