Eyewear retailer Luxottica has been slapped with a $1.5m penalty for breaching Australian spam laws.

The company, which owns brands such as OPSM, Oakley, and Sunglass Hut, was found by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to have sent over 200,000 marketing messages in violation of spam laws between November 2022 and May 2023.

The ACMA found 91,231 of these messages were marketing emails sent without a functional unsubscribe facility. Additionally, 112,348 texts and emails were sent to customers who had already unsubscribed from such messages. Approximately half of the emails sent without the option to unsubscribe were order confirmations and password reset messages that also included or linked to commercial content.

"Businesses must keep up their side of the bargain and stop sending these messages when customers ask them to," said Authority Member of ACMA, Samantha Yorke. "Once emails include this kind of marketing content they are commercial under the spam rules and must include the option to unsubscribe from further messages."

In addition to the financial penalty, Luxottica has agreed to a three-year court-enforceable undertaking to appoint an independent consultant to review its compliance with spam rules and make necessary improvements. The company is also required to report regularly to the ACMA.

This action follows recent enforcement against other companies that have breached the spam unsubscribe laws, including Uber, Outdoor Supacentre, and Kmart. Over the last 18 months, businesses have paid more than $12.7 million in spam and telemarketing penalties.