ben-popken

Ben Popken Says Farewell To Consumerist.com
Dear Consumerist.com readers, This was my last week writing for you. Keeping up with the word on Main Street has been incredibly rewarding and kept me in touch with the rest of America while perched inside my Brooklyn blog castle. Because even though it's my byline on my posts, it's you, the readers, who drive what I write. It's your stories and comments that make Consumerist great. Thank you for letting me spend 6 years with you. I just hope these monitor-induced double-bags and dark circles under my eyes aren't permanent. More »

Ben Popken On NPR Talking About Shrinking Food, Higher Prices
I got to verbally joust with the wielders of the Grocery Shrink Ray yesterday on NPR on the Diane Rehm show. Scott Faber vice president, the Grocery Manufacturers Association talked about how food makers have to pass on their rising costs somehow and I agreed, but took issue with deceptively designed packages and the misleading marketing practices. Just be upfront about it! More »

Consumerist Talks About The Man Who Made A Fool Out Of Wells Fargo On Bloomberg Today At 5:45 ET
Consumerist is back on Bloomberg TV today! Once again, Ben Popken will be appearing on Taking Stock, where he'll be chatting about the Philadelphia homeowner who foreclosed on Wells Fargo. Tune in to Bloomberg TV, or watch online at Bloomberg.com/tv, at 5:45 p.m. ET.

Clip From "Consumerist On Bloomberg" Last Night
Here's a clip from last night's "Consumerist on Bloomberg" segment where I talked about the 8-year-old girl who racked up a $1,400 bill playing "Smurfs Village" on her parent's iPad. More »

Watch "The Consumerist On Bloomberg" Tonight At 5:35 Eastern
The Consumerist is invading Bloomberg TV! Set your DVRs, Ben Popken will be appearing on a new segment driven by Consumerist content of the show "Taking Stock" with Pimm Fox every Wednesday at 5:35 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. ET for the next few weeks. You can also tune in live at bloomberg.com/tv. Don't miss it! More »

Watch Consumerist On CBS Sunday Morning News 11/7 9 AM
Consumerist is going to be on the CBS Sunday Morning News on 11/7 at 9am Eastern. They asked me about some of our all-time worst customer service horror stories. We should get a decent amount of screen time. Set your DVRs to stun!

This Cellphone Ad Needs More Anxiety!
As any Mad Men fan can tell you, ads are all about creating the itch and then selling the cream to soothe it. You stoke the desire and then offer the solution. Sales ensue. But what the modern dreamweavers on Madison Ave have figured out is that the two don't even have to be related. You could show a bunch of elephants trampling a village - an anxious event, indeed - and then "Pencils! Get 20 for $2" and you have yourself a great ad. Very Eisenstein, and for some reason, this tactic seems especially popular in cellphone ads. I remember a Verizon one where a girl had to have a llama and it was socially awkward. Inspired, I wrote up a short sketch to demonstrate: More »

Ben Popken On NPR This Morning Re: Comcast NBC Merger
I was on NPR this morning chiming in about the Comcast NBC merger that's hurtling like a freight train through Washington (spoiler alert: not a fan). Here's the clip. At the end, the reporter says that when he asked Comcast about their coming first in our Worst Company in America contest, they dismissed the entire affair as a "cheap stunt." We take offense. A trophy that cost $30 and had to be air-mailed from Japan is not cheap. More »

San Jose Area: Catch Ben On KGO Newstalk Radio 810 AM At 6:25 Tonight
If you live in the San Jose, CA, Silicon Valley area, you can catch me live on the Michael Finney show on KGO Newstalk Radio, 810 AM, at 6:25 PT tonight. l'll be talking about some of the crazy ideas and cool stories you shared in response to our "What Sickest Thing You've Ever Done To Save Money?" post. Fun!

Ben Popken On WJLA Warning About Robocall Scammers
UPDATE: Here's the video. If you live in the DC area, tune into ABC 7 tonight at 5:45 pm to see a Consumer Alert I shot with local reporter Kris Van Cleave. Apparently, this morning like six of their reporters all got scam robocalls on their cellphones with a recording saying their ATM card had been deactivated and they needed to call the bank back. Hello, scam! More »

Cash4Gold: Catch Ben Popken Monday On All Things Considered
Tune in Monday to NPR's All Things Considered to catch an interview I did with them about Cash4Gold, aka the story that will never die.

VIDEO: Hey Streets, What's The Worst Company In America?
I hit the streets of New York with a video camera, asking taxi drivers, youths, store owners and chicks eating donuts, "What's the worst company in America?" Most people laughed and said, "Worst company?" — and then thought real hard and gave us some answers, answers which may shock you! This video has subtitles so you can watch it at work without anyone knowing. More »

Video: Plunder Funnel! New Consumerist Original Scam Spoof
How would you like to be wallowing up to your eye sockets in filthy lucre?!?! PLUNDER FUNNEL is a sure-fire money-making factory that will teach how you to cannibalize any human relationship and turn it into cold hard cash. Taylor Sternberg from Broadway's "Jersey Boys" stars in this Consumerist original video parody, written and directed by Ben Popken. More »

Plunder Funnel Live This Sat
Catch PLUNDER FUNNEL, starring Taylor Sternberg from "Jersey Boys" on Broadway, this Saturday at 7pm at Coco 66 in Brooklyn. Written and directed by me, Ben Popken, and shot by Consumer Reports kickass video team, the new new Consumerist short skewers late-night get-rich quick schemes with gleeful abandon. The spoof gets shown as part of a free show my sketch comedy troupe DANGER CLUB is throwing down, but, of course, you'll get to see it on Consumerist first. Deets inside. More »

Panel: Get A Financial Tuneup Tonight
Join me tonight at 6:30 pm at 620 8th ave, 15th floor for a New York Times hosted panel on "Your Money: A Financial Tuneup." The whole idea behind the "Financial Tuneup" is that once a year you should set aside 10 hours to just tackle every niggling item on your personal finance todo list. Here are some tips on doing that. RSVP for tonight's event at financialtuneup.net.

Get Your Money Tuned Up, March 25 NYC
Next week the New York Times has asked me to be on a panel they're hosting called, "Your Money: A Financial Tuneup," along with Your Money columnist Ron Leiber, Jean Chatzky, the author of “Money 911”," and Burton Malkiel, an economics professor at Princeton and author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street." Should be a fun and engaging look at how people are dealing with personal finance issues in these times. More »

New Book With Foreword By Ben Popken
Marketing blogger Joseph Jaffe's new book. "Flip The Funnel" preaches some of the same new religion we do at Consumerist and uses as examples some of our favorite stories, like United Breaks Guitars and boogers in the Domino's. Joe is all about how customer service should be the first thought, not an afterthought. He warns how if companies don't stop being like Delta and start being like Zappos, if you don't make retention the new acquisition, social media will kill you. I like Joe's rap and I happily agreed to pen the forword, and I thought I'd share the results with you:

Get A Financial Tune-Up, March 25 NYC
Join me and NY Times columnist Ron Lieber for a "being smart about personal finance in the recession" panel discussion and Q&A Thursday, March 25, at 6:30 pm. The show happens at 620 8th ave, 15th floor, admission is free. RSVP to financialtuneup.net. More »

Videodrome #3: Paper Puppet Reenactments Of Removed YouTubes
Faster! Leaner! Meaner! Ben Popken rounds up Consumerist.com's top stories of the week, from psychotic stewardesses to deadly foreclosures. This week we introduce a new feature: printing out the internet and turning it into a puppet show.

Consumerist Videodrome #2: The "New Moon" Felons
Is loving New Moon a crime? It is, if you accidentally tape it during your sister's surprise birthday party at the movie theater. Plus, how you will end up paying for Hulu after the Comcast/NBC merger, Oscar Meyer shaved meat, subprime loan gangstas, and a pacifier you might choke on. Now that we have a video show, what should my signoff be? Leave your thoughts in the comments. More »