"Apparently, The DA Has Never Purchased A Bag Of Potato Chips"
The tough-on-deodorant-manufacturers! OC DA goes after AXE, via Unilever, its parent company, for supposedly deceptive packaging because the actual product doesn't fill the package top to bottom.
(My deodorant stick doesn't go to the bottom of the deodorant package -- is that company next?)
From AbnormalMuse.com:
According to a report out of The Orange County Register, prosecutors have accused the company of using "false bottoms, false sidewalls, false lids or false coverings" which "serve no legitimate purpose and mislead consumers as to the amount of product contained in the containers." The report is silent on whether prosecutors obtained the desired AXE effect when "testing" out the company's body sprays....Pending court approval, Unilever has agreed to cease using the "misleading" packaging and pay $750,000 in civil penalties to Orange County, plus $24,000 to cover the costs of the DA investigation. In addition, Unilever will buy Sunday inserts with $3 coupons in several dozen California newspapers. In other words, the County gets three quarters of a million dollars. The "deceived" consumer gets the opportunity to buy another AXE product at a $3 discount. So, it sounds like "everyone", i.e. Orange County, comes out winners.
At Overlawyered, where I saw this, Walter Olson blogs:
The Orange County district attorney's office under Tony Rackauckas is emerging as an Overlawyered favorite, having knocked an impressive $16 million out of Toyota in the sudden-acceleration affair even though the cars in question do not suddenly accelerate, of which $4 million went to a locally influential tort attorney; the office has also kept mum about arrangements it has with tort attorneys. And of course Rackauckas's office has lately been embroiled in one of the nation's most prominent scandals of prosecutorial abuse (with retaliation angle).
He also notes that this "slack fill" lawsuit is one of a bunch of lawsuits filed against companies -- a fertile financial hunting ground. And yes, click on "one" -- and there's the deodorant example.
And commenter Dave Twigg at Overlawyered notes:
I guess the DA's office figures if it works in criminal law, why not in civil law?. By threatening prolonged pretrial jail-time and/or hefty legal fees and/or hefty fines, the judicial system has convinced millions to plead guilty to crimes they didn't commit. Why not use the same tactics to extort millions from corporations and local businesses...oh wait a minute, extortion of local business by local gov't and 'security' forces has been going on for more than a century. A Deal I Can't Refuse! ;~)
Product-liability lawsuits... what could possibly go wrong? Let's ask the fine folks in Madison County, Illinois.
Cousin Dave at June 15, 2015 6:04 AM
Wished the company had said "That's what the term "net fluid ounces" is on the label for."
Bob in Texas at June 15, 2015 6:27 AM
Strange...the deodorant I purchase as a measure of the actual container and it says "2.7 oz"
So...if I were to comparison shop, I'd go by the listed amounts, not the size of the package.
I have a fortune program installed on several machines, and I get log file summaries that contain a fortune. One I saw today said:
Q:What happens when you cross the Godfather with a lawyer?
A: An offer you can't understand.
I R A Darth Aggie at June 15, 2015 6:34 AM
And yet they refuse to prosecute the idiots who apply that disgusting product to themselves and then going out in public.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 15, 2015 8:14 AM
"Go" out in public. "Go." Not "going".
Proofreading am difficulter.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at June 15, 2015 8:15 AM
Wished the company had said "That's what the term "net fluid ounces" is on the label for."
Exactly.
And Gog, tits early.
Amy Alkon at June 15, 2015 8:52 AM
Bernie Sanders will take care of that deodorant problem for you.
farmer Joe at June 15, 2015 8:53 AM
Forget "deceptive" packaging; what about all the things that come in packaging that can't be recycled? Sometimes, at least, you can recycle shampoo bottles but not the caps. Not to mention lotion containers with pumps in them - and, of course, deodorant containers. Thankfully, one can buy deodorant that has no solid container - it looks like a slightly oversize ice cube. Now, if only ALL health food stores would sell shampoo in bulk the same way they do honey and syrup...
lenona at June 15, 2015 9:38 AM
lenona: "Now, if only ALL health food stores would sell shampoo in bulk the same way they do honey and syrup..."
Hey, that's a good idea.
Ken R at June 15, 2015 10:43 AM
Since deodorant containers also function as applicators, how do they know people aren't buying Axe because of the size and/or shape of the container? Surely they're not buying it for it's odor.
And if they wanted to prosecute Axe for deception, how about all those commercials showing frenzied young hotties vigorously throwing themselves at anything with Axe on it? Talk about deceptive! I tried Axe once, ages ago, and women didn't act like I was any less undesirable than before, let alone attractive.
Ken R at June 15, 2015 11:07 AM
From a cartoon about the late, great, Quentin Crisp:
Young man (after passing by a young woman wearing an appealing perfume):
"I wonder if there will ever be a perfume for men that would drive women crazy?"
Mr. Crisp: "Dear boy, it would have to smell like MONEY!"
lenona at June 15, 2015 12:14 PM
And Rackauckas should add on a civil rights violation for hate speech and micro-agression. Axe is making fun of how some inner-city people pronounce 'ask'. As in, "I Axed for her number."
Canvasback at June 15, 2015 2:21 PM
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