Australia – Lululemon Athletica’s Australian arm has paid a $702,900 penalty after sending more than 370,000 emails containing commercial content without providing recipients with a way to unsubscribe, following an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The regulator found that between 1 December 2024 and 5 January 2025, Lululemon mischaracterised certain service-related emails—such as delivery and order confirmation messages—that also included marketing material. Because these messages contained promotional elements and links to sales offers, they were deemed commercial under Australia’s spam regulations.
Authority Member Samantha Yorke said the rules governing electronic marketing communications are clear when promotional content is present.
“In this case Lululemon sent service emails such as shipping updates that also contained sales material and direct links to promotions,” Ms Yorke said.
“This was an easily avoidable error that has led to hundreds of thousands of marketing emails being sent without a way for people to opt out.”
“Businesses need to understand that marketing messages must have an unsubscribe option and the simplest way to comply is to keep transactional or service messages separate from sales content and links.”
Yorke added that the enforcement action is part of a broader regulatory effort addressing businesses that incorrectly classify promotional messages as non-commercial.
“This is the fifth enforcement action the ACMA has undertaken in the last 18 months against businesses that have incorrectly treated messages as non-commercial even though they contained or had links to clearly commercial material.”
“The law is clear – providing the ability to opt-out is mandatory for marketing messages,” Ms Yorke said.
In addition to the financial penalty, Lululemon has entered into a court-enforceable undertaking requiring the company to conduct an independent review of its compliance with spam regulations. The company will also regularly report to the ACMA on the implementation of any recommended improvements.
