She writes:
Dear Consumerist,I purchased a Black & Decker food processor from my local Walmart store. When I opened the box for the first time, I found a religious pamphlet with the other paperwork (user’s manual, etc.). The pamphlet has an “American Idol” theme. I’m not sure if it was put there by Black & Decker or a Walmart employee or customer. The box was sealed with a strip of packing tape but I noticed when I removed it that the box is so glossy that the removal of the tape left no mark on it. Here are scans of the pamphlet. I hate these things. I’ve emailed Black & Decker and Walmart. Do you have any suggestions for me, aside from the action I’ve already taken? I’m totally creeped out.
Jessica
PS. Scans of the pamphlet are attached. Sorry the quality is so poor, not sure why.
Seems like the best way to get back is to take into your heart the belief that you will win American Idol. Share this belief with others.
Faith aside, if the food processor works then you can ask for an open-box discount, but not much more. If it only works for true believers, then bring it back and ask for a refund and a non-proselytizing appliance. We hear KitchenAids are fabulous and accepting.
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The image looks more Heaven’s Gate to me.
It could have just been someone going through the store placing pamphlets insde boxes of merchandise, the same way you see those “Chick Tracts” placed at pay phones or left on your cars’ windshield, in books at the library or wherever. I don’t think it was really anything to get upset about.
Quite an unusual set of responses here. The less-religious or non-theistic people say, “Get over it”, and the religious people call the propaganda offensive.
I’m among the right people.
I’m a Christian and i’m offended and quite sorry that people feel the need to push their faith on you using…pamphlets stuffed in boxes. Pathetic.
I, too, would take pictures and then blend it.
On another note, I wonder if people would object to the OP calling it “creepy” if it were Muslim fundamentalist materials? Somehow I think things would be a little different.
I am glad there’s a good set of rational comments on this non-issue. What’s interesting is those who took the leap faith choosing Atheism seem hell bent on displaying that their belief system is the right one. I’d rather have a pamphlet in a box than a bunch of atheist zealots in my online community.
Note the comment “I was raised Atheist.” You mean you were brainwashed by your parents to think like they do. You are not superior, you are just the same as the Scientologists.
@morganlh85: So true.
OP is *completely* overreacting. As a Christian, I don’t personally agree with these hidden pieces of Christianity and believe that we should try a little harder to not distance ourselves from normailty; but really, if this creeps you out, be sure to stay in a dark lonely room all of your life, cause you won’t nearly be able to handle the real world. In the real world, people do far more drastic things to get your attention. And some of those things actually *are* creepy. Not just annoying.
I’ve had some very traumatizing experiences with religion as a youth so, if I randomly found a tract like that, I would be freaked out by it too. I had to go to a wedding recently and even sitting in the church made me very uncomfortable. In my early 20s I had a job at a gas station and the owner gave us religious tracts as a Christmas bonus. I had to quit that job because it brought back some very unpleasant memories.
Jesus freaks out on the street, handing tickets out for God…
heh. yes the pamphlet is creepy. no, it isn’t worth blowing a gasket over or complaining to the manufacturer or store. find something entertaining to do with it and be happy with the fact that someone clueless enough to slip religious tracts into blenders hasn’t found something even creepier to do with their time.
I’ve had a Chick tract left in my mailbox, with an amusing tale of a little boy who dies for not believing in Jesus, when we’re the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. Creeped out? Hell yes. Called the police? Hell yes.
Flyer in random box in random store? Annoying, but not creepy. Throw it in the recycle bin and get on with your day.
For those who keep saying “get a life”, she has a life and she’s using part of it to stop idiots from foisting their beliefs on others. Why don’t you “get a life”-ers, stop commenting on this blog and GET A LIFE!?!??!
All religion is creepy. Toss it out and move on.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: What’s interesting is how many schizophrenics in our world are left untreated under the guise of religion. And how one religion can put down another, when they’re equal in their disconnect with reality.
“…I’m totally creeped out.” And you’re totally a loser if this so ‘creeps you out’ that you write to Consumerist about it.
Consumerist: Surely you have interesting, important things to report about in this vast country of ours. Get a clue and stop replaying tripe like this. Jeez….
You know, if they had faith in their deity, they wouldn’t need to cram him down everyone else’s throat like a used car salesmen tries unloaded a lemon recovered from a flood. Sort of like the poorly-endowed guy that in the loudest voice possible, shouts across the bar what a great lay he is.
Am I the only one who is wondering if the item was returned and went back on the shelf unchecked or that employees can seemingly put whatever they want inside a box for an item meant for food prep freely?
This is a fairly standard (but very obnoxious) tactic favored by some of the more simple-minded fundamentalists. Unless the company shrink-wraps its boxes from the stores, there’s really no way for them to stop it.
Hopefully it means there was one less tract left as a tip for an overworked waitress on Sunday.
@Trai_Dep: What does personal faith have to do with distributing pamphlets? Thats the most retarded comment I’ve seen this weekend. Does this mean that if you had faith in yourself you would go posting comments criticizing others on the internet? Stop hating.
@EtherealStrife: “And how one religion can put down another, when they’re equal in their disconnect with reality.”
SEE! Another atheist zealot having to say her belief system is better than the rest. Don’t you numb nuts realize these kind of comments serve the same exact purpose as the pamphlet found in the box!?
You are having your own disconnect form reality.
If I got a Chick Tract along with my manual and warranty form I’d consider it a bonus
@lukobe: In Firefox, some image saying “This was your life!” covers the main banner, so it looks like it says “Chick Tracts get head!”
Made me laugh.
Nice, do you call Muslims towelheads? Please, if one little tract is that disturbing to you how do you deal with life?… This is one melodramatic woman…
you’re totally a loser… OP is *completely* overreacting.
Aw jeez guys…. how come everyone translates “totally creeped out” as the OP being outta control scared and pissed off? She didn’t say she wants to sue, or that she wants anything, she probably just wanted to let B&D and WalMart know what happened… they may have an employee/customer who is known for this sort of thing, and they could address it if they wanted to. Just seems a tad harsh to call the OP a “melodramatic, hater-of-Muslims, loser who can’t deal with life”
Usually when I say I’m “totally creeped out” it’s said in a light-hearted way, if a freind is acting like a goofball, I might say, “dude you are totally creeping me out!” Sure, if I got this I would say it creeped me out… why….. well it’s creepy cuz what the fuck are they talking about? American Idol…. then it segues to Jesus…. huh? Is Black and Decker having a promo with American Idol to umm promote Jesus….. well…. hmmm…. no, that’s not likely…. oh I see, it’s just a regular old religious tract…. how odd. I’d turn to my friend and say something like “Dude, check out what came in my blender! WTF, I’m totally creeped out” and then I’d laugh and forward it to the consumerist because it’s kind of interesting…
Personally I prefer religious materials to come right out with it… I don’t want to get all jazzed about American Idol and then have Jesus sprung on me…
(***please note that I have never in my life actually been jazzed about American Idol, it’s just the example. )
—
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours:
“SEE! Another atheist zealot having to say her belief system is better than the rest.”
Is that because EtherealStrife said all religion is creepy? I’m a little confused – just because someone doesn’t belong to a religion doesn’t mean they are an athiest, and you don’t have to belong to an organized religion to have a personal belief system and faith in God.
@Mr. Gunn: If it was a pamphlet calling on you to serve Satan, how would you feel?
Oh wait, that was an Army Recruitment pamphlet.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: Calling a post ‘retarded’ and then saying ‘Stop hating.’
Thanks for the shining example.
@scoobydoo: Annoyed? I’d stop reading these posts and get on with life.
If this annoys you, I’d stay away from any Consumerist post. It’s an annoying world out there. Compared to some of the things going on in the world a post about someone who’s creeped out is pretty tame.
And what “other action” would you want to take? What do you want to accomplish? Do you want compensation? I’m really not sure what “other action” you can take other than griping about it in a comment.
Aside from that and many other comments that are more annoying than the post itself…
I agree that it is a little unsettling that something like this would be found in a product with no religious intonations, but I don’t think the OP was looking for any particular form of compensation. Believe it or not, but some people like to let the company know just as an FYI so they can find out what went wrong. Like someone said earlier, shopdropping is probably the issue here.
Take it for what it really is:
A pamphlet attempting to admonish ‘American Idol’.
The interpreted reference to Christian Heaven follows the author’s simile, “TV Heaven”. The comparative is solidified by explanation.
Does it belong in a box containing a power tool, I doubt.
Would WalMart and Black & Decker want to know it was there, likely.
Is the interpreted Christian context such a bad thing? I wonder what the response would have been if God had been replaced with Alah. Or, if heaven and God were replaced with Loka and Brahman.
How about some logic on this? By telling the Walmart she bought the item at they might know more about the issue or at least be aware of it. It could be that other people have had the same issue of pamphlets in items. Or employees have found those stuffed into various places in the store.
I think someone would be equally creeped out if a poorly constructed rant about the wrath you will get for eating meat and some other crazy rants was put in their blender.
Crazy combined with being in a sealed box of an item used for preparing food makes the whole picture creepy be it crazy religious nut or crazy anti-meat PeTA type nut.
As for the OP getting annoyed by this. If you live somewhere that your frequently confronted by these over the deep end religious types it does get old fast. It might seem trivial to someone who doesn’t get weekly prostelitizing attempts, door knockers, pamphlets etc.
If you live somewhere that has lots of these people you can eventually lose your sense of humor about having to rebuff these people or telling them to go away. Some don’t take the first no as an answer. So I could understand the person’s annoyance.
any religion that resorts to pamphlets is creepy.
Annoying religious creeps. Can’t understand that we don’t care about their beliefs and they can keep them to themselves?
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: Why does “Raised athiest” = “brainwashed” but “raised christian” = proper upbringing?
@swchurchill:
I always wonder why it’s socially acceptable to try to convert people to Christianity, but not atheism.
@coolkiwilivin:
Oh, please, save the martyrdom histrionics for someone who is actually oppressed. The fact that Christians aren’t able to continually rub their superstitions in people’s faces without backlash is what is upsetting you. Boo hoo. The only time these “attacks” occur is when you are trying to force someone to participate in your superstitions or droning on and on about them when no one wants to listen.
That said, this women is a wanna-be martyr herself for thinking a stupid pamphlet is something to get upset about.
Aw jeez guys…. how come everyone translates “totally creeped out” as the OP being outta control scared and pissed off?
@alphafemale: Because it makes all the “OP is overreacting” comments so deliciously ironic. For example:
Nice, do you call Muslims towelheads? Please, if one little tract is that disturbing to you how do you deal with life?
@coolkiwilivin: The OP finds a religious tract creepy and you decide she’s an Islamophobe. Who’s the one overreacting?
I’d take it back a get one that hasn’t been messed with.
The religious variation to flash mobbing perhaps? I’d suggest getting over it, check to see if there was anything missing out of the box, if so, take it back and get a better processor.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Agreed. You get an untampered unit, and the store eats it for not watching their inventory.
It’s funny. When this site had an article on shopdropping a few months back, I was in the minority because I found the practice wrong, while a lot of people seemed to have the “yeah, that’s sticking it to Big Business” attitude. Yet, now that it’s not someone putting messages about the evils of corporations, but instead some juvenile proselytizing, everyone seems to think it was wrong.
I hate it when “The Doorknockers” or the Street Preachers come up and ask you “Well, if you died today do you know if you’d be going to Heaven?”, or my personal not favorite “Have you given your heart to Jesus?”
My answer to their first question is usually a “No, that is for God to decide, not me.” I am sure alot of people who THINK they will be going to heaven, especially because they believe THEIR religion is the ONLY true one and everyone else is on the fast-track to Hell are probably in for a big surprise.
I really dont’ know why those people think they have any right to just come up to someone and ask them about their religious beliefs which are such a private matter. Or especially to push their religion on someone else.
The next time one of them comes up to me and starts I would love to embarrass THEM by asking them “Since you dont’ mind asking me such personal, private questions I am sure YOU don’t mind ME asking you personal questions about your finances or even maybe your sex life, do you?”
@BugMeNot2: Well, dear, you just ironically pointed out the difference yourself. The shopdroppers were engaging in a cool form of performance art to make a point, and the proselytizers were engaging in the same old zombie crap that they think pleases their imaginary friend. More narrowly, the shopdropper are likelier by far to effect positive social change in the world, and the zombie morons don’t even want to be part of the world.
Hey, it was only Xtard propaganda this time. Next time, it might be deer urine or anthrax.
Guys, c’mon, admit it: this really is kinda creepy (though of the “dude, that totally creeps me out” variety). I can imagine people would be up in arms if this were a pamphlet from PETA, the Hare Krishnas, communists, or some such.
And yes, Chick Tracts are way creepier: a good friend of mine collects them. Not only are they super-conservative, hellfire & brimstone stuff, they’re virulently anti-Catholic (“The Virgin Mary is a pagan goddess, and Satan’s instrument!”). Great reading.
I never heard of chick tracts… what are they?
Just yesterday, I saw an anti-gay-marriage and anti-abortion religious flying sitting on a shelf near the deli at Kroger. As I waited for my order to be sliced and packaged, I calmly picked up the flier, shredded it into many pieces, made sure the title was still readable and on top of the pile, and placed the pile back on the shelf. I’m sure an employee whisked it away a couple minutes later, muttering about what assholes customers are, but it felt good, anyway.
Throwing unwanted shit away must be a real hassle now days.
It’s not quite clear to me how she was inconvenienced, harmed, or otherwise hassled?
Just the other day, something I bought came with information about Women’s Day magazine. I’m still recovering.
I had a proselytizing surgeon once. Sewed up a half dozen tracts where my appendix used to be. Three years later when an x-ray came back saying I was going to hell…. I was creeped out.
j/k
@smoothtom: Would you have torn it up if it was pro-gay marriage and pro abortion?
@speedwell:
Neither. The shopdroppers are just as much mindless zealots as the religious fundamentalists.
They’re both taking untenable, unrealistic positions.
@smoothtom:
Yeah, at least it wasn’t one of the many, many chick tracts I find all over the place. That’s a LOT of anger toward certain groups of people, there. Of course, the religious groups defend the tracts – they’re somehow perfectly OK with demonizing homosexuals, yet manage to denounce white supremacists who use the exact same language to discuss jews, blacks, and immigrants.
Pick one, jesus-freaks. It either *IS* OK to demonize a group of people, or it isn’t. There is no middle ground.
@BugMeNot2: If you’re talking about this: [consumerist.com] then I think the difference is that something was left inside the box the product came in as opposed to it having a sticker stuck to it. A sticker doesn’t imply that someone got inside the box.
@failurate:
I don’t think any of us could say what we’d do if we found a pamphlet like that, because we’ve never actually seen one.
The gays don’t knock on my door every saturday to demand that I allow them in to discuss the virtues of sodomy.