The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced in a press release that Instant Brands, the manufacturer of Pyrex-brand kitchen and home products, has been ordered to stop making deceptive claims regarding their products’ origin (i.e., “Made in USA”) and requiring them to pay a monetary judgment.
Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “Consumers rely on marketers to make truthful ‘Made in USA’ claims[.] If marketers move their manufacturing outside the United States, even temporarily, they must update their advertising to make it accurate.”
The FTC’s complaint specified that consumer demand of Instant Brands’ glass measuring cups during COVID-19 spiked; in 2021, the company was no longer able to keep up with consumer demand—specifically, its Amazon sales—; so, Instant Brands outsourced their Pyrex cups to China. The individual cups were marked “Made in China;” however, the marketed products on Amazon retained the “Made in USA” label.
The FTC complaint alleges more than 110,00 units of deceptively-marketed China-originating Pyrex cups were sold to U.S. consumers.
Instant Brands has agreed to the following requirements to the FTC’s order: restrictions on unqualified claims, detailed specificity of qualified claims, and the ability to prove assembly claims. Also, the order requires Instant Brands to pay a $129,416 judgment.