Bayer cross at night
NEW YORK – Bayer is settling a lawsuit that alleged it misled customers into thinking One A Day multivitamins promote healthy sperm.
Attorneys for the company informed a New York federal court on Sept. 18 that it reached an agreement with plaintiff lawyers to resolve the case, which was filed earlier this year by four individuals. It was styled as a class action, though it appears the settlement only affects those four plaintiffs.
The product at issue – One A Day Men’s Pre-Conception Health Multivitamins – was marketed as supporting “healthy sperm,” but the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau in March found those claims unsupported.
“As a result of the misleading messages conveyed by their marketing, Defendants have caused Plaintiff and Class Members to purchase a product that does not perform as represented,” the complaint said.
“Plaintiff and other similarly situated consumers have been harmed in the amount of the price premium they paid as a result of Defendants’ false and misleading representations.”
The firm Bursor & Fisher brought the case originally with only plaintiff, Jie Chen, who said he believed the multivitamin would increase his chances of having a child. The front of the product’s packaging contained the phrase “To Support Healthy Sperm.”
Bayer’s website also instructed men to take the product for “at least three months before conceiving and while trying to conceive” and that the multivitamin is “specially formulated” with antioxidants to support healthy sperm.
Those antioxidants included vitamins C and E, selenium, zinc and lycopene, and the NAD found that they delivered no sperm-related benefits.
Bayer agreed to comply with recommendations made by the NAD that it discontinue or modify its “healthy sperm” claims but still faced the lawsuit, filed a month later. The case alleged violations of New York’s consumer-protection law and sought damages of $500 per violation.
