products

Arm & Hammer Responds To Baking Soda Controversy With Complete Nonsense

Arm & Hammer Responds To Baking Soda Controversy With Complete Nonsense

Widge at Needcoffee.com wrote a similar post about Arm & Hammer’s new “30 day” baking soda and got a response from Arm & Hammer PR. We’re being kind when we say that reason consumers are being told to buy 3 times as much baking soda is nonsense. We’re sure there are more colorful words that would be just as accurate.

P&G Will Raise Prices Up To 16% On Products Such As Tide, Head & Shoulders, Etc.

P&G Will Raise Prices Up To 16% On Products Such As Tide, Head & Shoulders, Etc.

Procter & Gamble has announced that you will pay more for your Tide and Head & Shoulders and all their other consumer products. P&G is raising prices by as much as 16% on “fabric, home and hair care, bar soaps, and health and shaving products.” P&G is the manufacturer of popular brands such as Gillette and Ivory soap.

Get Info On BPA-Free Baby Products Via Text Messaging

Get Info On BPA-Free Baby Products Via Text Messaging

If you’ve got a baby and you’re concerned about buying unlabeled products that contain Bisphenol A or BPA—which some studies have indicated may lead to adverse health effects in humans—the website Z Recommends has just launched a free text messaging service that lets you query their database of companies while you’re standing in the store. They’ve also got a printable wallet-card you can carry with you, which serves as both a cheat-sheet for the text service and a quick reference source for major companies.

Polaroid Instant Film Is Dead

Polaroid Instant Film Is Dead

”We’re trying to reinvent Polaroid so it lives on for the next 30 to 40 years,” Tom Beaudoin, Polaroid’s president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said in a phone interview Friday.

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The Boston Globe profiles the last remaining shoe and boot maker in New England, Alden Shoes. The company’s classic footwear has been worn by the likes of John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Indiana Jones… and the Massachusetts state troopers. The shoes will set you back about $350-$500 a pair, but they seem like awfully nice people. “Our shoes don’t wear out,” says Robert Clark, Alden’s vice president. [Boston Globe]

What's In Nair

What's In Nair

Hey, do you know what’s in Nair, the creamy hair-removal product that smells like skunks? (Or used to—the current formulation is supposed to smell better.) Now, thanks to Wired’s “What’s Inside” article, you will! The active ingredient is potassium thioglycolate, a member of the thiol family, which not coincidentally is also responsible for the intense stink factor of skunk spray. Thiols “eat into keratin (a skin and hair protein), which is what makes actual skunk spray (and Nair) lock onto human flesh and fuzz.” Another chemical—calcium hydroxide—destroys the weakened hairs.

"Hand Shredder" #4 On List of Unfortunately Named Products

"Hand Shredder" #4 On List of Unfortunately Named Products

Say No to Crack has posted a list of five of the worst-named products to ever reach the market. Runner up for best worst name is that classic of early 80s television, AYDS diet chews (which we’ve covered in depth here). Our personal favorite, though, is the Hand Shredder.

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Good News: The New York Times recommends “rethinking” any beauty product that costs more than $30. [NYT]

The Consumerist's Top 10 Products Of 2007!

The Consumerist's Top 10 Products Of 2007!

2007 was an amazing year for consumer products and we covered them all! From the hype of the iPhone to death-flavored pet food, if you buy it, we’ve probably got an opinion about it.

Consumer Reports Tests Stainless Steel Cleaners

Consumer Reports Tests Stainless Steel Cleaners

Consumer Reports noticed, as so many of us have, that stainless steel is awesome until you have to clean it. With that in mind, they’ve tested a bunch of stainless steel cleaners and found that they all work just about the same.

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British retailer John Lewis is selling the world’s most unintentionally disturbing baby bathtub ever. At least we hope it’s unintentional. [BoingBoing]

Walmart "Junior" Panties Suggest That Your Genitals Are Better Than Credit Cards

Walmart "Junior" Panties Suggest That Your Genitals Are Better Than Credit Cards

Over at Feministing, a reader noticed these panties in the “juniors” section at the Wal-Mart on Kildare Farms Road in Cary, NC.

Fake Brake Pads Made Of Kitty Litter? Knockoffs Can Be Dangerous

Fake Brake Pads Made Of Kitty Litter? Knockoffs Can Be Dangerous

Consumer Reports warns us that knockoffs aren’t just found on the streets of NYC, where peddlers push fake Gucci and Prada bags to giggling tourists. There are now “brake pads made of kitty litter, sawdust, and dried grass; power strips, extension cords, and smoke alarms with phony Underwriters Laboratories (UL) marks; medical test kits that give faulty readings; toothpaste made with a chemical found in antifreeze; and cell-phone batteries that could explode. Online drugstores claiming to operate from Canada but actually based in other countries have peddled “Lipitor” and “Celebrex” pills stored under uncontrolled conditions and containing the wrong active ingredients.”

Food Frauds: Special K Fruit & Yogurt And DanActive "Immunity" Drink

Food Frauds: Special K Fruit & Yogurt And DanActive "Immunity" Drink

Food marketing is largely made up of lies, but everyone already knows that. The CSPI, however, likes to find foods that are especially fraudulent in their marketing claims. These made us laugh for some reason, so we thought we’d share them with you.

If Your Barbasol Shaving Cream Explodes In Your Shower, You Will Receive Coupons

If Your Barbasol Shaving Cream Explodes In Your Shower, You Will Receive Coupons

Sometimes people are so surprised that they’ve reached an actual human being with their complaint email that they write in and tell us about it.

Do Consumers Actually Participate In Recalls? (No.)

Do Consumers Actually Participate In Recalls? (No.)

Despite all the hand-wringing on our part, we consumers don’t actually participate in recalls at a very high level. This leaves both manufacturers and the CPSC in the dark about whether their warnings are reaching the right people—which is why the House approved a bill this Tuesday that would require manufacturers of certain infant and toddler products to keep registration info on their customers.

Amazon Investigates Safety Concerns Posted To Its Website?

Amazon Investigates Safety Concerns Posted To Its Website?

I just wanted to let you guys know that Amazon has been tracking reviews posted for possible safety concerns. I had a rice cooker that decided to shock me several times, so I wrote an anonymous review back in January. Unexpectedly, a few weeks ago, I get an email from Amazon asking about the incident. Given the gap between the review and the email, I suspect this is a new program on their part. A copy of their email is below.

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Maybe Television Idiot Syndrome (a term we just made up) is reversible: a new study says you can reduce the risk of having an antisocial, depressive child if you reduce his television viewing to less than two hours per day by age 5 1/2. Just make sure you don’t fill up those two hours with Baby Einstein vids. [Reuters]