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After reading through this a second time, I'm convinced it's an elaborate press release. Way too much of the article is devoted to the benefits of Tide and why people are so brand loyal.

Also, many of the quotes and details given appear to be pretty tongue-in-cheek.

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This story is 9 months old, it was first on local news (with the same source from the same police department):

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/14/tide-detergent-beco...

and again:

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/03/23/prince-georges-coun...

Then extended as a feature in The Daily later that month:

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/03/12/031212-news-tide-the...

Which lead it to becoming a subject on Snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/tide.asp

It seems that the writer at NYMag hit his word count by extending the background on the brand, since he had a ready source available with the marketing/PR department at Procter. I think this could have been more interesting if it went into the direction of exploring the economics at work.

I have to admit that before I caught myself, I was thinking "that's pretty impressive, maybe I'll buy Tide next time."

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