Comment by nikcub

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.