(5 votes, average: 4.20 out of 5)Like the Avengers teaming up to fight the Universe’s greatest threats — district attorneys in four separate California counties recently teamed up to fight what they apparently saw as a threat to their citizens: The packaging on Olay skin-care products?
That’s right: After a three-year investigation by these California prosecutors, Procter & Gamble Co. agreed to change their packaging and pay a report $850,000 in civil penalties and costs.
The alleged threat? The prosecutors were concerned that the face cream packaging was sometimes much larger than the contents.
“There was never any intention to misrepresent the size of our products,” P&G spokesman Bryan McCleary said.
But that didn’t stop the California legal enforcers from targeting the American company.
Their accusations were based on state and federal guidelines related to “slack-fill”, which is another term for the air inside packages.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, “State district attorneys and plaintiff attorneys around the country have been bringing lawsuits against companies that sell everything from cosmetics and deodorant to pepper and snacks, alleging that the manufacturers included too much dead space inside their containers or packaging.”
The newspaper further reports that Proctor and Gamble also settled a private lawsuit last year that alleged Old Spice deodorant sticks contained “too much dead space.”
This is in addition to additional American companies, including CVS Health Corp., C&F Foods Inc, L’Oreal SA, and Johnson & Johnson, that have settled similar cases over the past few years.
What do you think: Are these cases legit, or should prosecutors start targeting real criminals instead of chasing American companies over “slack-fill” regulations?
