ACMA slaps Lululemon with $702k fine for multiple spam breaches

Direct marketers beware, ACMA is watching - closely. Australia’s communications regulator has slapped global sportswear giant Lululemon with a $702,900 penalty after it sent more than 370,000 commercial emails without a functioning unsubscribe option.

An investigation found that between 1 December 2024 and 5 January 2025, Lululemon sent emails labelled as service messages – such as order confirmations and delivery updates – that also included promotional content and links to marketing offers.

Because the messages contained sales material, the regulator ruled they should have been treated as commercial communications under Australia’s spam laws.

“In this case Lululemon sent service emails such as shipping updates that also contained sales material and direct links to promotions,” ACMA authority member Samantha Yorke said in a press statement.

“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."

Yorke said the rules are straightforward: if an electronic message contains any promotional content, it is considered commercial regardless of whether it also serves another purpose.

“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.

“The law is clear – providing the ability to opt-out is mandatory for marketing messages,” she said.

The fine also came with additional compliance measures, including an independent review of its spam compliance systems. Lululemon said a review had already been completed.

"We have completed a thorough review of our practices for communicating with our guests and have made updates to our standard guest journey emails, including our order confirmation and delivery notifications to ensure ongoing compliance,” a Lululemon spokesperson said. 

“We are committed to delivering an exceptional guest experience that complies with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We take this responsibility very seriously and have worked cooperatively with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to address their findings."

The case forms part of a broader regulatory crackdown on spam breaches. ACMA said it has taken five enforcement actions in the past 18 months involving companies that incorrectly treated promotional messages as non-commercial.

Over that period, businesses operating in Australia have paid more than $6.7 million in spam penalties.