Right Guard

How ethical is Right Guard?

Right Guard is a deodorant brand which has fallen below The GOOD Shopping Guide’s ethical benchmark on our Ethical Deodorant Ratings Table. While Right Guard performs well across several governance criteria, its overall performance does not meet the standard required.

What does Right Guard do?

Right Guard is a mass-market antiperspirant and deodorant brand first introduced in 1960. The brand is owned by Thriving Brands LLC, a consumer products company formed in 2021 by Trive Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm, in partnership with former industry executives. Right Guard produces antiperspirant and deodorant products in aerosol, stick, and gel formats, primarily targeting men, and is widely available in UK supermarkets and pharmacies including Boots, Superdrug, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s.

Why does Right Guard fall below The GOOD Shopping Guide’s benchmark?

Right Guard’s below-benchmark performance reflects poor ratings across several criteria. The poor rating for environmental report is the most significant. For a brand with more than six decades of presence in the UK deodorant market and wide distribution across major retail chains, the absence of a published environmental report means consumers have no transparent account of the brand’s environmental performance or sustainability commitments. Publishing an environmental report that sets out the brand’s commitments, carbon footprint, and progress would address this gap.

Right Guard also receives poor ratings for organic ingredients and vegetarian and vegan verification. The brand’s conventional antiperspirant and deodorant formulations contain no certified organic ingredients, and no formal vegan verification has been obtained. While Right Guard does not specifically market itself on natural or vegan credentials, pursuing formal verification of its ingredient standards would strengthen consumer confidence in the brand’s formulation practices.

Beyond these poor ratings, Right Guard’s animal welfare rating is acceptable rather than good, indicating room for improvement in formal animal welfare commitments across its product development and supply chain.

It is worth noting that Right Guard achieves good ratings across several criteria, including genetic modification, fossil fuels, armaments, irresponsible marketing, and political donations, and has no documented public record criticisms. These reflect solid ethical conduct across governance criteria. However, the combination of poor ratings across environmental reporting and product certification means that Right Guard’s overall performance falls below the standard required by The GOOD Shopping Guide.

Consumers seeking deodorant brands that meet The GOOD Shopping Guide’s ethical benchmark are encouraged to consult our Ethical Deodorant Ratings Table and our guide to ethical deodorant, and seek out brands that hold The GOOD Shopping Guide’s Ethical Accreditation. Our how we rate page explains the criteria used to assess all brands in this sector.