‘107 Loads’ Claim for Arm & Hammer Clean Burst Detergent Cheats Consumers, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action claims 144.5-fluid-ounce containers of Arm & Hammer Clean Burst liquid detergent do not contain enough product to do as many loads of laundry as advertised.

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The 23-page lawsuit against Church & Dwight Co. says that despite the prominent front-label claim that a container holds enough detergent for 107 loads of laundry, an “almost invisible” asterisk next to this statement refers consumers to a small-print statement, “cleverly buried” in a “maze of citations” on the back label, that reveals that this number can be reached only when doing “medium loads when measured to Bar 5” on the cap.

Though the product’s cap has no actual measurement marks on it, and given that no separate measuring cup is provided, another fine-print back-label statement suggests that “Bar 5” is roughly equal to the “1/2 capful for energy saving cold wash settings” mentioned in the same instruction, the suit describes. Per the case, consumers are directed to use a full cap for only “large” or “heavily soiled” loads.

According to the complaint, a reasonable consumer understands the term “load” to refer to one that uses the full capacity of the washing machine. Therefore, typical consumers, who routinely do large, oversized loads of laundry, expect the detergent at issue in the container in which it’s sold to be sufficient for 107 full loads, the complaint claims.

Advertising that the container holds enough detergent for 107 loads, when each load is half the size of what a consumer considers a full load, is “misleading and deceptive,” the lawsuit summarizes.

“In other words, according to the product’s own directions, consumers are being shorted roughly 50% of the amount of product they reasonably expect,” the filing alleges. “Consumers are expecting a product that has enough detergent for 107 loads of laundry, but are instead receiving one that is only sufficient for roughly 54 loads of laundry (or 107 half-loads).”

The plaintiff, a St. Louis resident, purchased the detergent in May of this year and believed, based on the front-label representations, that it would last for 107 full loads of laundry, the suit says. Like other consumers, the man would not have bought the product if he had known that it would not be enough for “anywhere close” to that number, the case claims.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who purchased Arm & Hammer Clean Burst detergent at any time between September 7, 2018 and September 7, 2023 in Missouri, Illinois, Maryland, Hawaii, New York, Washington D.C., Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington or Connecticut.

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