Reader Ed reports that the Capital One Card Lab custom credit-card maker keeps rejecting his request to put a picture of himself wearing a Snuggie on his credit card. After the jump, the rules for which photos are not allowed. I’ve bolded the ones that might apply. Ed thinks he might have gotten tripped up on the “Controversial subject matter such as political or religous statements and/or images” clause, i.e. Capital One thinks Snuggie is a cult.
• Copyrighted or trademarked material not owned by a Capital One partner – if you didn’t take the photo or own the image, we cannot accept it. View examples.
• Branded products (except those associated with a Capital One Partner)
• Provocative, lewd, or sexual content – including nude or semi-nude pictures of people of any age
• Celebrities/musicians/public figures/athletes/cartoons, etc. (except for those associated with approved Capital One partner)
• Violence, violent acts or any type of death imagery (e.g. images of skulls)
• Socially unacceptable or discriminatory behavior or signs (e.g. gangs, hatred, drug/alcohol abuse, graffiti)
• Profanity or other obscene behavior or gestures
• Images of money from any country (including the United States) where money is the central focus of the photo
• Images of flags. (Our gallery contains flag related imagery – please review those images if you are interested in having a flag on your card.)
• Controversial subject matter such as political or religous statements and/or images
• Phone numbers (e.g. 800 or 900 #’s) and URL addresses (e.g. http://www.capitalone.com)
• Competitive marks/names (e.g. Discover, American Express, etc.)
• Any references to the Olympic Games or events
• Any photo that might result in non-acceptance or other problems at the point of sale
• Any printing or process that interferes with the required security features of the card
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Snuggies And ShamWows Beseige Nation’s Cheap Airwaves
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Branded? Wouldn’t that be a more likely reason than cult? It doesn’t exactly have the name on the product, but it’s fairly obvious what it is on site. They’d probably ban a can of coke too if all you did was blur out the printed word ‘coke’. The item/packaging is distrinctive.
@henwy:
Well, they can’t copyright the overall pattern for this product. Who’s to say he didn’t sew his OWN Snuggie?
@SJActress:
It doesn’t have to be a copyright issue. Capital one obviously doesn’t want products featured on the item that aren’t under their umbrella. The snuggie is identifiable just by looking at it as a commercial product. We can test it, but I think a person holding out a can of coke prominantly would get rejected as well, even if the word ‘coke’ was blurred.
@henwy: What if it was a Slanket? I can’t tell the difference between Snuggies and Slankets. I also saw a DIY project on Ikea Hacker for sewing your own, so…I think it’s safe to say no one could identify the photo as a Snuggie specifically.
@henwy: I don’t buy it. I know of a friend of mine who has a picture of his family on it. The family is a “branded clothes” family. Everyone has on something with Hollister or Abercrombie prominately written on the shirt. If they aren’t going to allow the Snuggie, they shouldn’t allow the blatent product placement of shirts.
@henwy: Except would they do that to somebody wearing, say, a Carhartt jacket? I’m thinking this is more an excuse for an out than an actual policy.
@henwy: WTF is a snuggy?
@cunninglinguine: It’s a robe worn backwards
@cunninglinguine:
(warning NSFW language)
Really reaching here, maybe they think it’s a guy in a woman’s gown and they’re filing that under “socially unacceptable” or “controversial” behavior?
@cunninglinguine: They’re robes worn backwards for people who don’t know how to work blankets
.
Maybe they just really, really hate Snuggies. They must have seen that ad one too many times.
Perhaps Capital one thinks he is a monk.
I love my snuggie and my husband is now trying to steal it after having worn it for the first time
I wonder if they would allow a picture of me holding a sign that says “My credit card company took your bailout money”
@coan_net: haha, try it, please
@coan_net:
Pretty sure that would fall under political statements.
@SirDanF: But the attempt itself would be classic.
We need to see this submitted image so we can judge this for ourselves.
I think the Snuggie image posted here is just an example. If that was submitted then C-One can say nay on basis of copyright.
___________________
Being an Devil’s Advocate is not a easy job to do, but someone needs to do it!
A co-worker of mine has a picture of her when she met Raven Simone on her card. Guess that one slipped through (“Oh, that must be her sister!”)
I vote for the branded reason.
Screw the Snuggie, I want Vince on my card.
Ya’ following me, camera guy?
BONK.
I’m with Capital One here. Snuggies are clearly a cult.
Dump the snuggie! get footed pajamas! now those rock!
[www.bigfeetpjs.com] I love mine.
@albear: Until one morning you wake up to a coworker at your door, and you’re dressed in footie pajamas.
On the other hand, they’re just so cozy.
@Pink Puppet: I couldn’t do that. My feet need to be hanging outside the blanket as it is for me to sleep. I just feel trapped with my feet wrapped in bed. Yet shoes/boots don’t bug me. Eh, go figure.
@albear: I personally think that if you just HAVE to have a snuggie, go buy the original product that snuggie ripped off.
@coan_net: That would be *amazing*
Can you put snuggies on kittens?
Kittens are about the only thing left after reading that list.
What about a picture of someone baptizing a kitten?
I think they are going to run into trouble with that particular line.
/brainstorm session
I remember my sister telling me about this when it was still in development years and years ago. At that time you couldn’t even upload a picture of your kids because they were concerned about perverts buying their pervy perv products with a baby-ized credit card.
I’ve seriously considered getting a couple of these and putting them in the car. I have a convertible, and my wife whines when it is below 70 degrees with the top down.
Bonus points for submitting a picture for a card that violates all of the above rules.
@Applekid: Lessee, a ohone number and web site of a gang of naked jewish crips violating Barney in the Bejing Birdnest by stuffing him with yen …
Ah, forget it…
There are plenty of DIY tutorials for skinning your own CC on Google. You can put whatever you want on it.
The answer is clear: semi-nude pictures. Can they prove he is wearing anything under the Snuggie?
I foresee problems at the point of sale if an anti-Snuggie individual is ringing up the sale.
I still don’t get why they’re such a big deal, myself. It’s a bit eccentric but that’s it.
“Provocative, lewd, or sexual content – including nude or semi-nude pictures of people of any age”
Is he wearing pants under the Snuggie?
Wow, leave it to CORPORATION One and silly intellectual property laws to fuck up what was a great idea.
Yeah i’m not too found of Capital one myself.
I submitted a picture of my Partner at the beach (yes he is shirtless in the picture) but has all of the “naughty bits” are covered by his shorts (Just like like every other male on the beach) and they rejected the picture of him.
So for fun I turned around and found a Copyrighted Picture (and yes the copyright is watermarked on it) of a barely covered woman in a two piece laying on the beach, in what I can only say is a “Come get me” pose.
And guess what? They approved the picture and I know how this woman on my card.
I have sent letters to customer care, and no word back as of yet. go figure?
@John Wells:
Wow, I would be making a gigantic fuss about that.
@John Wells: I was raising my eyebrows at the “semi-nude” ban myself, as just this week a customer at my work paid with a Capital One card featuring her and her friends in their sexy nurse/cop/etc. Halloween costumes. Not really that close to nude, but kind of racy nonetheless.
As a contractor for CapitalOne and an avid Snuggie fan (if by fan you mean I laugh my ass off every time that stupid commercial comes on) I felt that this article was written just for me.
I have had their card for 6 months with a 750 Dollar limit and 20.99 APR. I have discover now for about a year with 10.99 and a 10,000 Limit. Cap one sucks. I tried calling them to raise and mentioned I have other cards with 10K. The rep said, “well, you need to use our card more at this time for a higher limit.” Ok….right lady.
Maybe the guy that approves the photos is a Slanket man?
it’s because the snuggie isn’t socially acceptable, i mean honestly, what idiot wears a snuggie?
Business opportunity adding some sort of sticker afterward?
Tibet monks have been wearing the Snuggie for years.
Who would have thought that the snuggie would have caught on the way it has? Good for them in this kind of economy.
What? You mean I can’t put a tasteful nude of myself on my card either?! Well, there goes my number 1 & 2 choices for my custom card. ;p
so if you can’t put a picture of yourself wearing a snuggie, then you shouldn’t be able to put a picture of yourself wearing levis or dockers or any of the other branded clothing..
but they won’t let you go nekkid either, so..
*shrug*
If the picture used was from the Today Show, it wasn’t acceptable because it had celebrities on it.
I cant believe these cap one bastards are so strict about the snuggie
[getsnuggies.net]