'Free Of' Marketing: Honestly, Why Bother?

Editorial: The WSJ reports that independent lab testing detected sodium lauryl sulfate in The Honest Company's liquid dish detergent, contrary to the startup's "free of" claims. Honest disputes the finding, but the resulting media storm and PR implications underscore the challenges inherent in such positioning, the scrutiny it invites and the risks a company assumes in marketing products for what they are not.