Mark another “safe from motion-based commercial messages” area off the list. New York is trying out adding TV screens inside subway cars as a way to bolster flagging revenues. The first campaign is a “full body wrap” – what graffiti artists used to call “bombing” – on the 42nd street shuttle for TBS’s baseball playoff coverage. The (silent) monitors will show highlights from previous games. [More]
When Online Stores Get All Email Smothery
By September 10, 2010
Some places you buy stuff from online are so super duper excited about your new business that they can’t stop emailing you about every little thing. The Brads webcomic does a cute little skewering of the overly communicative online store that even gets clingy when you try to unsubscribe. Relationship tip for companies trying to hook up with customers: desperation is a turnoff. Hit the link to get the full monty. [More]
Snoop Dogg Partners With Norton To Fight Cybercrime
By September 3, 2010
Security software maker Norton has hired rapper Snoop Dogg to be the face of a new contest that asks people to upload to “hackiswack.com” a 2 minute videos of themselves rapping about cybercrime. Winners get to hang out with the Snoop Dizzle, free tickets to his concert, and a new laptop preloaded with Norton Internet Security 2011. The partnership makes sense, as computer on Norton runs as fast as if you “smoke weed everyday.” [More]
Shake Weight Inventor Doesn't Think It Really Looks Like You Know What
By August 18, 2010
The inventor of the Shake Weight is actually a pretty casual guy and in a recent Q&A with Inc. mag he really downplays the innuendo-factor. “it depends how you shake it as well,” says Johann Verheem. “If you do it based on the three exercises that we have laid out, it’s not that suggestive.” See, you’re just doing it wrong, you pervy-pervs. [More]
"Up To" Broadband Speeds Are BS, FCC Study Shows
By August 18, 2010
Just like you’ve suspected/known all along, the “up to” broadband speeds providers offer – “up to 10 mbs!” – are nigh unattainable. A new FCC report finds that broadband users are, on average, only getting half of the advertised “up to” speeds. [More]
Taiwan's Cartoon Version Of Dodge's Invisible Ape Ad
By August 16, 2010
Taiwan News has decided that the best way to cover the story about how Dodge swapped out an ape in their ad that PeTA was pissed about with an invisibile monkey is through the magic of animated reenactment. Watch for the animated flames shooting out of the phone. [More]
Notorious Alleged Stolen Credit Card Data Reseller Arrested, But His Promo Cartoon Remains
By August 12, 2010
An alleged big-time old-school credit card data reseller was arrested in France and extradited to America after Department of Justice investigators arranged to buy some credit card data off him via ICQ. His reign as king jerk may have ended, but the flash cartoon he used to promote his netherworldly services is still online (NSFW). [More]
Dodge Complies With PETA By Replacing Ape With Invisible Ape
By August 12, 2010
PETA was mad at Dodge for running an ad that had a chimpanzee in it, considering the history of abuse monkeys have suffered in the entertainment industry. Not that any happened to this monkey, just to monkeys before it. In any event, in the revised version Dodge complied and digitally erased the monkey in the track suit…. but now there’s just a disembodied suit walking over and pressing the dynamite lever. Dexter’s Michael C. Hall monotones in the voiceover, “Oh wait, there’s an invisible monkey.” Hilarity! [More]
Coffee Shops Say Free Wi-Fi Is Bad For Business
By August 9, 2010
A recent story in the LA Times says that some coffee shops are pulling the plug on free wi-fi because freeloaders are taking up large tables and only having a single cup of coffee. [More]
Sign Up For MSN Internet At Best Buy? You Could Get $75
By August 5, 2010
If you signed up for MSN Internet at Best Buy between 1999 and 2004, you could be entitled to up to $75. [More]
Foods That Pretend To Be Drugs
By August 4, 2010
“Medical attention does not come from a Cheerios box,” Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, told Forbes. See, one of the biggest trends in the food industry are these so-called “functional foods,” water that helps you sleep, yogurt that regulates your digestion, pomegranate juice that cures cancer, etc. But most of the claims are bogus, or at best, misleading, and the FDA is cracking down. [More]
Consumer Reports Tests The Ab Coaster
By August 4, 2010
The Ab Coaster promises to give you rock hard abdominals within weeks, so Consumer Reports decided to put their claims to the test. Especially the one about its patented “bottom up” method. [More]
Jamba Juice To McD: Suck On Our Cheeseburger Smoothies
By August 2, 2010
To fight back at McDonald’s jumping in on its smoothie game, Jamba Juice has launched a new line of “Cheeseburger Chill Smoothies.” [More]
Want A Coupon For Neutrogena Men? You'd Better Be A Woman
By July 19, 2010
Reader Mark notice that he was only offered a coupon for “Neutrogena Men” if he said he was a lady on their website. [More]
What's Creepier, New Chevy Volt Ads, Or John Carpenter's Christine?
By July 14, 2010
At first I thought it was a horror movie trailer coming out of the dashboard radio. There is a wall of droning sound, then an intense voice overlays with, “Listen. Hear that? That’s the sound of the status quo crumbling.” I wondered what new machete-wielding maniac would be gracing the theaters this summer, until I realized that his name was Chevy Volt. What? That’s your electric car ad? Why does it sound so much like the trailer for the 1983 cult classic Christine in which an otherworldly-possessed car goes on a murderous rampage? [More]
Introducing The Snuggie D-Lux
By July 14, 2010
The Snuggie D-Lux solve a big problem for male Snuggie fans: if the fleece robe has completely covered your front, what happens when you need to access your man parts? Removing the robe could leave you feeling cold, isolated, and remind you that we’re in a recession. But now there’s the Snuggie D-Lux, the robe with three sleeves! NSFW, the D in D-Lux stands for something naughty. [More]
Old Spice's Brilliant Marketing Your Product Could Market Like
By July 14, 2010
We at Consumerist mostly focus on when companies screw up, with some exceptions. We must give credit for brilliant marketing strategies when it is due, though, and yesterday’s personalized YouTube video blitz by Old Spice’s towel-wrapped spokesman, Isaiah “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” Mustafa, qualifies as brilliant. [More]
Artisanal Is The New Organic
By July 13, 2010
There’s a burgeoning artisanal market in the U.S., where goods made by hand or in small batches–and marketed with lots of footnotes and descriptions of quality–are growing increasingly more popular. But why, and is it just a hipster lifestyle ingredient or an actual shift in the larger population? [More]
