Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced Friday that the Procter & Gamble Co. will pay $850,000 to settle a consumer-protection action brought by prosecutors in the district attorney’s offices in Yolo, Fresno, Shasta and Riverside counties.
The prosecutors alleged that packages of Procter & Gamble’s products contained excessive nonfunctional “slack fill” in violation of California law. Slack fill is the use of oversized packaging to make it appear that the package has more product than it actually contains.
After being advised of the allegations, Procter & Gamble launched a review of its products and has committed to changing the packaging of its entire Olay product line, Reisig said.
Under the terms of the settlement, and without admitting any wrongdoing, Procter & Gamble agreed to pay $850,000 in civil penalties and costs. Of that total, each of the four DA’s offices will receive $194,000 in civil penalties and $12,000 for costs that will be used to fund other consumer cases and investigations.
Reisig praised the settlement.
“Our office remains vigilant and committed to consumer protection and to ensuring that consumers are not misled in their purchases by misrepresentations and false advertising,” he said. “We are gratified that Procter & Gamble recognized the issue, and is committed to changing its packaging.”