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Sleep toy claims mislead,
Safety risks in soft comfort,
Penalties are paid.
Riff Raff Baby slapped with $132,000 penalty by ACCC for misleading sleep toy safety claims
Riff Raff Baby Pty Ltd, an online national retailer, has been hit with penalties totalling $132,000 by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The penalties were issued in response to eight infringement notices for allegedly making false or misleading claims about the safety of its comforter toys for newborns.
The ACCC alleges that Riff Raff's advertisements for its sleep aid toys, including Bandit the Racoon, Banjo the Bear, Clover the Bunny, Kirra the Koala, Riff the Fox, and Raffy the Fawn, breached the Australian Consumer Law. The regulatory body was concerned that the ads falsely represented these toys as safe for unsupervised sleep environments with infants under seven months old.
'Based on these advertisements by Riff Raff, parents and caregivers may have thought that these products are safe for babies to sleep next to in an unsupervised sleep environment, when in fact there are serious safety risks. These types of products can cover a baby's nose and mouth, which can pose a risk of fatal suffocation,' ACCC Deputy Chair, Catriona Lowe, warned.
The eight infringement notices relate to 'safe for sleep' representations made in February and March 2023. Six of these were issued for representations about different toys on Riff Raff's website, with one each for representations made on Facebook and Instagram.
In response to the ACCC's action, Riff Raff has provided a court-enforceable undertaking. This includes commitments not to make these representations again, to amend its website and social media advertising to remove the misleading claims, to provide corrective notices to all customers who purchased the products about the associated safety risks, and to establish a consumer law compliance program.
The ACCC has been increasingly focusing on consumer product safety issues affecting young children, particularly those relating to infant sleep products. This action against Riff Raff, which sells sleep toy comforters, teethers, books and other accessories for babies and children, underscores this focus.
