Arm & Hammer Detergent “2X More” Promise Class Action

When a company promises that one size of a detergent delivers “2X More Loads” than another, what does that mean? Church & Dwight Co. Inc. use this term to market its Arm & Hammer detergent in a 144.5-ounce container, in comparison to the 67.5-ounce size, but the complaint for this class action alleges that it is not true.

Two classes have been proposed for this action:

• The New York Class is all persons in New York who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Kansas, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Virginia, South Carolina, Montana, Iowa, Mississippi, and Utah who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.

The first page of the complaint shows images of the two containers. Prominently placed at the top of the front label of the 144.5-ounce container, in a large font, are the words, “2X More Loads.” Also visible on this container is the promise that it will do 107 loads. The smaller size promises “50% More Ounces” and 50 loads.

The “2X” in the “2X More Loads” claim, the complaint says, means “two times” or twice. The statement would be correct, the complaint claims, if the promise was “2X As Many Loads,” because that would mean “twice as many,” or at least 100 loads. The problem, the complaint says, is the word “more.”

The complaint refers to formulas from Merrill Perlman, “a journalist who has studied the ways algebraic formulas are understood by the public” to claim that “2X More” actually means three times. That is, it claims, the “2X” refers to the amount “more” added to the original amount—Number X plus 2 times Number X = 3 times Number X.

If the smaller size does 50 loads, the complaint is claiming, then “2X More Loads” would mean “100 More Loads.”

To make this true, the complaint claims, the container would have to hold 202.5 ounces. Alternatively, the complaint claims, the statement would have been true if it had said “Twice as Many Loads” or “Double the Number of Loads.” The complaint alleges this misleads customers to think they are getting more detergent in the container than they are.

The complaint points out that reasonable consumers must count on companies to accurately describe what they can expect from products, both alone and in comparison to other products. It says, “The value of the Product … was materially less than its value as represented by [Church & Dwight]. … [Church & Dwight] sold more of the Product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Does Not Provide Stated Amount of Coverage or Capacity for Usage