Privacy Policy

SWEET OAK GROUP’S
GLOBAL PRIVACY POLICY

Effective as of November 1, 2024.

Sweet Oak Parent, LLC, and our employees, agents, subsidiaries, and affiliates (collectively, “Sweet Oak Group,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) are committed to safeguarding your personal information. We have adopted and implemented this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) as part of our commitment to protecting your personal information across all of our websites, mobile apps, and other online properties that link to this Privacy Policy (the “Sites”). This Privacy Policy applies only to the Sites, and covers only information collected in connection with your access to and use of the Sites. We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy to learn about how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information and about the choices you can make regarding information you share. Sweet Oak Group is the entity responsible for processing personal information (i.e., the data controller) under this Privacy Policy.

Because we are a global company, this Privacy Policy takes into consideration various privacy regulations and frameworks governing the collection, use, maintenance, sharing, and disposition of personal information. Our privacy practices may vary among the countries in which we operate to reflect local practices and legal requirements. In addition, while this Privacy Policy is intended to describe the broadest range of our personal information processing activities globally, the processing activities in some jurisdictions may be more limited based on restrictions under local laws or based on the products and services being offered.

Additional information relating to our practices and the rights of residents in specific countries is provided at the end of the Privacy Policy in the Country-Specific Notices section.

CONSENT TO PRIVACY POLICY

By using the Sites, you are agreeing to the practices described in this Privacy Policy and you expressly consent to provide all personal information to Sweet Oak Group through the Sites, including by email, blog post, or social media, as well as to processing by automated or non-automated means, for the purposes indicated in this Privacy Policy and subject to the Terms of Use that apply to the Sites.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Throughout this Privacy Policy, we use the term “personal information” to describe information that can be associated with an identified or identifiable person. “Personal information” may include, but is not limited to, your name, postal address (including billing and shipping addresses), telephone number, email address, payment card number, date of birth, driver’s license number, or national ID number.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We ask that you read this Privacy Policy from time to time. We may modify this Privacy Policy at any time in our sole discretion. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy that increase our rights to use personal information we have previously collected about you, we will obtain your consent, where required by law, either through your registered email address or by prominent posting on this page.

The following topics are covered below (click on one of the links below to jump to the listed section):

  1. Information We May Collect About You
  2. Information We May Collect Through Automated Means
  3. How We Protect Children’s Privacy
  4. How We May Use the Information We Collect about You
  5. Do Not Track
  6. When We May Share Your Information
  7. What We May Do With Your Social Network Account Information
  8. How We May Use Cookies
  9. How We Retain and Protect Your Information
  10. Third-Party Advertisements
  11. Business Transfers and Corporate Changes
  12. Location and Transfer of Personal Information
  13. Links to Other Websites and Third-Party Plug-ins
  14. Additional State- and Country-Specific Notices
    Notice to Residents of California
    Notice to Residents of the United Kingdom, European Union, and Other Non-U.S. Countries
  15. How You Can Contact Us

1. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU

We may collect information about you when you interact with the Sites, including when you log in to the Sites, create an account, join our mailing list, make a purchase, request a service, request information, communicate with customer service, apply for a job, or upload content to the Sites through various means, including your social media account, which may feed information to the Sites. The information that we may collect includes, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Contact information (including name, postal addresses, email address, and telephone number);
  • Purchase and transaction information (including payment card information, billing and mailing addresses, and information about the products and services that you purchased);
  • Login credentials;
  • Demographic information (including age/birthdate, gender, and country in which you are located);
  • Information that you provide to us through the Sites regarding your eye color, skin, health, activities, and skincare concerns;
  • Social media handles;
  • Preferences regarding products and services;
  • Information that you choose to submit in connection with your comments or inquiries;
  • Photographs and other content that you provide;
  • Contact information for others (including email address) when you use certain features, such as “Send This Job to a Friend”;
  • Occupation, professional license number, license type, license expiration date, specialty skills, and company name (obtained from beauty professionals); and
  • Employment history, education history, and other information contained in a resume uploaded through our Site or submitted through an online application form (obtained from job applicants, to the extent permitted by applicable law).

2. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT THROUGH AUTOMATED MEANS

We may automatically collect information about the devices that you use to interact with the Sites, as well as information about how you interact with the Sites. The information that we automatically collect may include, but is not limited to, the following:

  • Precise geolocation (with your knowledge and consent);
  • Location (based on internet protocol (IP) address);
  • IP address and other device identifiers;
  • Browser type and version;
  • Operating system type;
  • Language your system uses and country and time zone where your device is located;
  • Information you searched for on the Sites;
  • When and for how long you visited the Sites;
  • Pages you visited while on the Sites;
  • Time spent on those pages; and
  • Web page that referred you to our Sites.

The information that we collect may be associated with any personal information that you have provided to us.

Your Precise Geolocation. When you interact with the Sites, you may be asked for permission to allow us to collect your precise geolocation information. If you consent to such collection, we may use this information to provide you location-based or targeted advertisements and social media posts; to locate our nearby retail or distribution partners; or for analytics purposes. You may discontinue our collection and use of geolocation information by changing the settings on your browser or mobile device.

3. HOW WE PROTECT CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
Our Sites are general audience Sites not directed at children under the age of 13. If we obtain actual knowledge that any information we collect has been provided by a child under the age of 13, we will promptly delete that information.

4. HOW WE MAY USE THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

We may use the information we collect about you to do the following:

Provide Products, Services, and Other Information, including Advertising, That May Interest You
  • Facilitate your transactions, including processing and fulfilling purchases, shipping orders, and personalizing the customer experience, where possible;
  • Send you promotional materials and other communications, in accordance with applicable laws;
  • Respond to your inquiries;
  • Send you email alerts relating to investor relations, if you request to receive them;
  • Communicate with you about, and administer your participation in, special events, contests, sweepstakes, programs, offers, loyalty programs, surveys and market research;
  • Deliver advertisements based on your interests;
  • Provide you with an interactive social media experience that allows you to connect your social networking community to the Sites;
  • Create and manage your account;
  • Process your employment application, and notify you of future employment opportunities that may be of interest to you; and
  • Help you locate distributors of our products.

Manage and Improve our Business Operations
  • Operate and manage the Sites;
  • Operate, evaluate, and improve our business, including by managing, enhancing, improving, and analyzing our products, and the performance and functioning of the Sites; developing new products and services; managing our communications; and performing accounting, auditing, and other internal functions;
  • Enforce our agreements;
  • Study how consumers use the Sites; and
  • Perform other market research, such as determining trends and business opportunities based on consumer activity.

Ensure a Secure Online Environment and Comply with Legal Requirements
  • Protect against and detect fraud, abuse, and other unlawful activity;
  • Enforce the Sites’ Terms of Use, other corporate policies, and industry standards; and
  • Comply with all applicable laws and our reporting obligations.

Profiling. We may use your personal information to develop a personal profile about you to allow us, for example, to treat you in a more personal way as part of our customer outreach.

Opt-Out Policy. If you no longer want to receive marketing emails from us, please follow the “unsubscribe” instructions in the email you receive from us. We will process your request within a reasonable period of time. We are not responsible for removing your personal information from lists of any third party, such as a business partner, that has previously been provided with your information under this Privacy Policy. Where required by law, Sweet Oak Group will take reasonable steps to inform the applicable third parties of your request.

Analytics. We may use third-party analytics services, such as Google Analytics, on our Sites. The analytics providers may use technologies such as cookies, web server logs, and web beacons to help us analyze visitors’ use of our Sites. The information collected through these technologies, including your IP address, may be disclosed to the analytics providers and other relevant third parties that use the information to analyze the use of the Sites.

5. DO NOT TRACK

We do not track customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising and therefore we do not respond to Do Not Track signals.

6. WHEN WE MAY SHARE YOUR INFORMATION

We may share your information with our affiliates and subsidiaries for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and with third-party service providers who perform services and functions on our behalf to support our interactions with you, including, for example, processing or providing our products and services, sending you advertisements for our products, administering surveys or contests, hosting product reviews, or otherwise communicating with you.

In addition, as noted above, we may share your information with third-party analytics companies for the purpose of conducting research about how our Sites are used and what products and services consumers prefer. These third parties use this information to provide us the services and perform the functions for which we have contracted.

We also may provide to third parties, including other businesses and members of the public, aggregated statistical data showing general usage patterns and statistics, interactions, and transactions with our Sites. This data does not personally identify you or provide specific information about individual usage.

We also may share your information with third parties, including law enforcement authorities, where we determine that doing so is appropriate to:
  • Enforce our Terms of Use;
  • Protect our property, services, and legal rights;
  • Prevent physical harm to persons or to the property of others, financial loss, security incidents, or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity;
  • Prevent fraud against Sweet Oak Group and others;
  • Support auditing, compliance, and corporate governance functions;
  • Comply with subpoenas, court orders, or similar legal processes issued by law enforcement agencies, regulators, and courts; and
  • Comply with any and all applicable laws.

7. WHAT WE MAY DO WITH YOUR SOCIAL NETWORK ACCOUNT INFORMATION

Our Sites may allow you to sign in to your social network accounts, including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, and associate them with our Sites. By using this functionality, you give us permission to access all of the elements of your social network profile information that you have made available to be shared and to use it in accordance with the social network’s terms of use and this Privacy Policy. Please refer to the privacy settings on your social network account for information about what information is shared with us and other connected applications and to manage the information that is shared through your account, including information about your activities while using the Sites.

If you would like to disconnect a social network account from the Sites, refer to the settings of your social network account and its provider.

8. HOW WE MAY USE COOKIES

When you visit our Sites, we may place pieces of code, commonly referred to as “cookies,” or use similar technology (such as web beacons or browser-based local storage) on your devices. Where permitted by law, we may begin collecting information as soon as you visit the Sites. By using the Sites, you permit us to collect and use your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may use cookies to customize your visits to the Sites, track usage patterns on the Sites, or analyze activity online.

Your internet browser or mobile device may allow you to block the transmission of certain information. For example, you may be able to configure your browser to notify you when you receive certain types of cookies, restrict or disable certain cookies, or block cookies altogether. You also may be able to delete certain cookies, called Flash cookies, by visiting the Adobe Flash Website Storage Settings Panel and Global Storage Settings Panel. You may choose to enable these options, but doing so may prevent you from using many of the core features and functions available on the Sites.

9. HOW WE RETAIN AND PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

We have implemented an information security program that includes administrative, technical, and physical controls that are designed to reasonably safeguard information that can individually identify you.
You can unsubscribe to email, text, or other messages through your account settings or by following the instructions contained in the message. You also may ask us to update your information by contacting us at privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com. Unless you direct us otherwise, we reserve the right to retain your personal information to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

10. THIRD-PARTY

Third parties, including, but not limited to, advertisers, website hosting providers and digital marketers, may collect information about your activities over time and across different websites when you use the Sites. These third parties also may provide us with data collection, reporting, ad response measurement, analytical information, and assist with the delivery of relevant

marketing messages and advertisements. These third parties may view, edit, or set their own cookies. The use of these technologies by these third parties is subject to their own privacy policies and is not covered by this Privacy Policy. Many third-parties, and some web browsers and mobile devices, allow you to opt out of third-party data collection.

Our Sites may use Google Analytics for advertising to collect analytics about how you use our Sites. We may use the Google Analytics cookie and Google advertising cookies together in order to collect data for advertising purposes. You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google’s Ad Settings, or by using the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on. You also may opt out of tracking and receiving targeted advertisements on your mobile device by some mobile advertising companies and other similar entities by downloading the App Choices app at www.aboutads.info/appchoices.

11. BUSINESS TRANSFERS AND CORPORATE CHANGES

We reserve the right to disclose and transfer all information related to the Sites, including personal information:
  • To a subsequent owner, co-owner, or operator of one or more of the Sites; or
  • In connection with a corporate merger, consolidation, or restructuring; the sale of substantially all of our stock and assets; or other corporate change, including, without limitation, during the course of any due diligence process.
12. LOCATION AND TRANSFER OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

Sweet Oak Group is a global company and may collect and process information in countries throughout the world. Therefore, subject to applicable laws, your personal information may be located and processed in a country where Sweet Oak Group does business, other than your country of residence or the country from which you provided Sweet Oak Group with your personal information. These other countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you reside.

In addition, we may transfer the personal information we collect about you through the Sites to our affiliates, subsidiaries, and service providers in other countries, such as to the United States, for the purposes described above. When we transfer your personal information to another country, we do so in accordance with applicable law.

When we transfer personal information from the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom (UK) or Switzerland to non-EEA and UK countries, we rely on approved data transfer mechanisms, such as Standard Contract Clauses, which may be requested by contacting us at privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com. By providing us with your information through the Sites, you consent to this collection, processing, and transfer of your personal information.

13. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES AND THIRD-PARTY PLUG-INS

Our Sites may contain links to other websites for your convenience and information. These websites may be operated by companies not affiliated with us. We strongly suggest that you review the privacy policies or notices of linked websites that you visit. We are not responsible for the content of any websites that are not affiliated with us, use of those websites, or the privacy practices of those websites.

The providers of third-party plug-ins, such as social networking tools, on our Sites may use automated means to collect information regarding your use of the Sites and your interactions with these features. This information is governed by the privacy policies of the providers of the third-party plug-ins. To the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for these third-party plug-in providers’ privacy practices.

14. ADDITIONAL STATE- AND COUNTRY-SPECIFIC NOTICES
The following additional notices apply to residents of particular jurisdictions:
Notice to Residents of California

If you are a California resident, California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits you to opt out of the disclosure of your personal information by Sweet Oak Group to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To opt out of such disclosures, please send an email to privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com. or write to us at:

Whole Earth Brands, Inc.
Legal Department
125 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 1250
Chicago, IL 60606 U.S.A.

If you are a California resident under the age of 18, and a registered user of any Site where this Privacy Policy is posted, California Business and Professions Code Section 22851 permits you to request and obtain removal of content or information you have publicly posted. To make such a request, please send an email with a detailed description of the specific content or information to privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com. Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information you have posted and that there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal even when requested.

Notice to Residents of the United Kingdom, European Union, and Other Non-U.S. Countries

Sweet Oak Group processes personal information for the purposes described above. In some situations, the collection of personal information may be required for the operation of our Sites or to provide you with certain products or services. If we use the information in other ways, we will provide you with specific notice at the time of collection.

The Legal Basis for Processing your Information

We process personal information where we have a legal basis to do so. The legal basis we will rely on will, in almost all situations, be one of the following:
  • You have consented to our processing your personal information;
  • The processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to fulfill a request you have made;
  • The processing is necessary to comply with a legal obligation that applies to Sweet Oak Group; or
  • The processing is necessary for purposes that are in Sweet Oak Group’s legitimate interests as global table-top company in order to, for example, protect our business and to better understand our customers.

If we intend to further process personal information that we have collected for a purpose other than that for which it was originally collected, we will provide you with information about this secondary purpose and any additional information necessary to ensure fair and transparent processing, before we engage in further processing.

Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how and why they may be stored on and accessed from your device when you use or visit our Sites. This Cookie Policy should be read together with the rest of this Privacy Policy and our applicable Terms of Use.

By consenting to the use of cookies, you agree that we can store and access cookies as described in this Cookie Policy.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that can be stored on and accessed from your device when you visit one of our Sites, to the extent that you consent. This allows our Sites to distinguish your device from those of other users of the Sites. You can find more information at www.allaboutcookies.org and www.youronlinechoices.eu.

How do our Sites use cookies?

We may use cookies to identify you and your interests and to track your use of our Sites. We also may use cookies to control access to certain content of our Sites, protect the Sites, and to process any requests you make.
To administer our Sites and for research purposes, we may contract with third-party service providers to track and analyze statistical information about usage of, and volume of traffic on our Sites. These third-party service providers may use persistent cookies to help us improve the user experience, manage content on our Sites, and track user behavior.
We also may contract with third-party service providers to send emails to users who have provided us with their contact information. To help measure and improve the effectiveness of our email communications, the third-party service providers may drop cookies on users’ devices. All data that these third-party service providers collect on behalf of Sweet Oak Group will be used solely by or on behalf of us and will be shared externally only on an anonymous, aggregated basis.

We may use the following types of cookies for the described purposes:

Cookie Type Purpose

Strictly Necessary/Technical: These cookies are necessary to allow us to operate our Sites so you can access the Sites as you have requested. These cookies, for example, let us recognize that you have created an account and have logged into that account to access Site content. They also include cookies that enable us to remember your previous actions within the same browsing session and secure our Sites.


Analytical/Performance: These cookies are used by us or our business partners to analyze how our Sites are used and how they are performing. For example, these cookies track what pages are most frequently visited and from what locations our visitors arrive. If you subscribe to a newsletter or otherwise register with our Sites, these cookies may be correlated to you.


Functionality: These cookies let us operate our Sites in accordance with the choices you make. These cookies permit us to “remember” you between visits. For instance, we will recognize your user name and remember how you customized our Sites by, for example, adjusting text size, languages, fonts, and other parts of the Sites that are alterable, and provide you with the same customizations during future visits to the Sites.


Profiling, Targeting, and/or Advertising: We may use cookies to collect data about your online activity and identify your interests so that we can provide advertising that is most relevant to you. You can opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from us as described below in the Your Rights section.


Third-Party Advertising: We may allow our business partners to use cookies on our Sites for the same purposes identified above, including collecting information about your online activities over time and across different websites. The business partners that generate these cookies have their own privacy policies, and may use their cookies to target advertising to you on other websites, based on your visit to our Sites.

How do I refuse or withdraw my consent to the use of cookies?

If you do not want cookies to be dropped on your device, you can adjust the setting of your internet browser to reject the setting of all or some cookies and to alert you when a cookie is placed on your device. For further information about how to do so, please refer to your browser ‘help,’ ‘tool,’ or ‘edit’ section or visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Please note that if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including strictly necessary cookies) you may not be able to access or use all or part or certain functionalities of our Sites.

If you want to remove previously-stored cookies, you can manually delete them at any time. However, this will not prevent our Sites from placing cookies on your device in the future, unless and until you adjust your internet browser setting as described above.

For more information about the development of user profiles and the use of targeting/advertising cookies, please see www.youronlinechoices.eu if you are located in the European Union.

Your Choice to Provide Information

You can choose not to provide personal information to Sweet Oak Group by refraining from, among other things, making purchases, using our services, applying for a job, and requesting information. You also may refrain from submitting information directly to us. However, if you do not provide personal information when requested, we may not be able to provide you with the full range of our products and services, or with information about our products, services, promotions, and other opportunities.

We reserve the right to store your personal information to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

Your Rights

You have certain rights regarding the personal information that we maintain about you, which in certain circumstances you will be able to exercise. These rights are as follows:
  • You may request a copy of the personal information that we maintain about you. If we maintain your information based on your consent or so that we could enter into a contract with you, you can also request that we provide you a copy of your information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
  • If your information is incorrect, you may request that we correct, amend, or delete information that is inaccurate.
  • You may request that we erase or restrict the processing of your personal information.
  • You may object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances when we process your data for the purposes of our legitimate interests.

Subject to applicable law, we will comply with your request as soon as practicable, and in any event, within not more than 1 month after receiving a valid request. If your request is particularly complicated, we may have to extend this period to 2 months. Any request to exercise these rights will be assessed in accordance with applicable law and there may be circumstances where we are not legally required to comply with your request. For example, we may reject requests that we determine are unreasonably repetitive or that risk the privacy of others. Access and correction requests may be done for free, unless they are repetitive, excessive or unfounded, in which case we may charge you the administrative costs we have incurred handling the request.

Some of these rights can be exercised online via your account. For example, you can review, modify, and delete certain information relating to your use of our Sites and unsubscribe to email, text, or other messages. If you are unable to manage your request via your online account then please contact us at privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com.

Right to Opt Out of Marketing or Withdraw Consent

In addition, you may at any time tell us not to send you marketing communications by email by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link within the marketing emails you receive from us or by contacting us as indicated below. We will apply your preferences going forward, subject to applicable law.

In some circumstances, withdrawing your consent to Sweet Oak Group’s use or disclosure of your personal information will mean that you will not be able to take advantage of certain Sweet Oak Group products and services.

Complaints

If you are unhappy or have concerns about the way in which we have handled your personal information, please contact us (see “How You Can Contact Us”) so that we can try to resolve the issue. We encourage you to get in touch with us first; however, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the applicable supervisory authority.

15. HOW YOU CAN CONTACT US

Please contact us if you have any questions or comments about our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy. You can reach us by email at privacypolicy@sweetoakgroup.com. You also can write to us at:

Whole Earth Brands, Inc.
Legal Department
125 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 1250
Chicago, IL 60606 U.S.A.

or

Merisant UK, Ltd.
Legal Department
St Johns Court,
Easton Street High Wycombe HP11 1JX
United Kingdom