Wellness tycoons Jessica Sepel and Jimmy Seervai in court fight over advertising for JSHealth Vitamins and Life Botanics
Wellness multi-millionaire Jessica Sepel has declared war on rival vitamins mogul Jimmy Seervai, suing the one-time MasterChef finalist.
“Wellness” multi-millionaire Jessica Sepel has declared war on rival vitamins mogul Jimmy Seervai, suing the one-time MasterChef finalist who claims to have created identical products to hers for a fraction of the price.
Mr Seervai says Ms Sepel – owner of the $426m business JSHealth Vitamins – has been overcharging customers and that he simply uses a common marketing tool called “comparative advertising”.
Ms Sepel, who has nearly half a million Instagram followers and has twice made the Financial Review’s young rich list, is suing Mr Seervai’s company Australian Health Vitality – which is known as Life Botanics – for copyright infringement, claiming it has been leveraging her brand to sell its own products.
In documents tendered to the Federal Court, which were obtained by The Australian, Ms Sepel counts 54 times Mr Seervai has “attacked” her company on Instagram by saying she is overpricing her popular vitamins with what he refers to as a “brand tax”.
Mr Seervai then offers his own “identical” product as an alternative to Ms Sepel’s, saying “everyone should have access to affordable high-quality vitamins and supplements”.
Ms Sepel has rejected Life Botanics’ claims that its vitamins are made from the same formulations as her own, and has denied her company charges consumers double the price for the same ingredients as Life Botanics’ competing product.
“(Life Botanics has) in trade or commerce, engaged in conduct which is misleading or deceptive,” the statement of claim read.
“(JSHealth) have suffered loss and damage and will, unless such acts and conduct are permanently restrained, continue to suffer loss and damage.”
Ms Sepel started the business from her home in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with her husband and CEO, Dean Steingold, in 2012, creating products that claim to boost libido, strengthen hair growth and ease digestion.
Life Botanics entered the wellness scene much more recently, after Mr Seervai was inspired by influencer Nadia Bartel’s infamous cocaine snorting incident in the peak of Melbourne’s lockdown. Ms Bartel was dropped as an ambassador for JSHealth when a video emerged of her taking drugs and partying while the city was under strict stay-at-home orders.
“The way JSHealth treated her, dropping her so publicly, I thought: bugger it, I’ll launch my own product. So it was a direct result,” Mr Seervai told The Herald Sun last year.
Mr Seervai is also the founder of Essence Group, a company that manufactures sports nutrition and supplements for supermarkets such as Woolworths and Coles. Australian actress Jodi Gordon is a major ambassador for Life Botanics.
JSHealth and Life Botanics have engaged in a public Instagram feud over the latter companies’ controversial advertising strategy ever since it launched early last year, but this is the first time the dispute has been taken to court.
The One Life Botanics’ Instagram post referenced by Ms Sepel in the court documents is set to Abba’s Money Money Money, and shows Mr Seervai resharing videos Ms Sepel had posted of her hosting a photoshoot for JSHealth.
“Whilst other brands are spending your hard earned money on fancy photo shoots and very expensive #DoubleBayDoublePay houses…” he wrote. “Why #DoubleBayDoublePay… Buy directly from the trusted manufacturer without any crazy brand tax.”
In a blog post on the Life Botanics website titled “Life Botanics vs JSHealth” the company attempted to “bust the myths” over why its products are the “same quality” as Ms Sepel’s, but notably cheaper.
In the post the company compared the ingredients in its products, such as the “Energy + Hair” supplement, to the ingredients of JSHealth’s equivalent product.
“The main difference between an affordable and premium brand is marketing and brand tax,” Life Botanics’ wrote in the blog. “A ‘trusted vitamin brand’ that has been around for years will spend a lot on marketing budgets, which is seen in the price tag.”
Mr Seervai told The Australian he planned to defend the claim, arguing he used “comparative advertising”.
“We came out with very similar advertising; it’s something Aldi do,” he said. “All we do is we say ‘Well, you like this one? Try this one.’ And we called out the ingredients... and they were exactly the same and the exact same levels but we said: save the brand tax, save $25 per pack.”
Mr Seervai said he uses the same advertising tactic with vitamin company Vida Glow.
In the court documents, JSHealth demands Life Botanics refrain from insinuating JSHealth apply an “egregious” brand tax to their products, stop claiming the two company’s products share identical formulations and pay JSHealth costs and damages.
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