Two of today’s WCIA battles were dominated by household names, proving that being the biggest doesn’t mean you’re the best. Another showdown featured companies that aren’t necessarily on the tip of everyones’ tongues, but are no less hated than the big brand names. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Does Walgreens’ New Up-Close-And-Personal Pharmacy Approach Violate Privacy Laws?
By 3.20.14
In an effort intended to provide pharmacy customers a less impersonal experience, some Walgreens stores have been redesigned to get pharmacists out in the store, consulting with customers at desks, without the traditional counter (and sometimes panes of bulletproof glass) between them. But the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services wants to see if this new “Well Experience” model is unintentionally revealing customers’ private medical information. [More]
Wisconsinites Plunged Into Despair After A Swiss Emmentaler Nabs World’s Best Cheese Title
By 3.20.14
That headline is not a joke. Do I wish with my cheesiest of Wisconsin born and bred hearts that it was? Yes, because I can only imagine the depths of despair cheeseheads have been plunged into after a team of Swiss cheesemakers swooped in and grabbed the title of World Champion during this year’s competition on sacred dairy ground. Otherwise known as Madison, WI. [More]
Starbucks Vanilla Lemon Latte Exists (In Japan), Looks Delicious
By 3.20.14
In case you aren’t already huffy that you most likely can’t buy booze at your local Starbucks yet, here’s another thing to be sad you can’t have: white chocolate lemon lattes. A “Creamy Vanilla Latte with Lemony Swirl,” to be exact. Alas, now we’ll never know how well sweetened lemon topping and coffee go together. [Brand Eating] [More]
Booze Coming To Thousands Of Starbucks Locations, Eventually
By 3.20.14
After a few years of testing and slowly expanding the number of Starbucks shops that serve alcohol, the coffee colossus says it will be going wide with that evening menu of adult snacks and drinks. But don’t expect it to happen overnight. [More]
Miss Oprah? Get Your Fill With Teavana Oprah Chai Tea At Starbucks Next Month
By 3.19.14
Has there been a void in your life since Oprah Winfrey ended her talk show three years ago? Well, Starbucks aims to fill that hole with a new product – Teavana Oprah Chai Tea. Yes, that’s right, Oprah is once again sharing one of her favorite things with the entire country…in tea form. [More]
KFC Australia Puts Tortilla Chips On Sandwich, Popcorn Chicken On Nachos
By 3.19.14
Over at KFC Australia, they seem to be a little confused about how nachos work. Not that Americans have any special claim to snack food logic, but at least our fast food outlets haven’t done anything completely wacky like throwing popcorn chicken on nachos, or tortilla chips on a sandwich. [More]
UK Subway Sandwich Artist Decides Bread Ovens Work Just As Well At Drying Socks
By 3.18.14
We’re totally fans of subverting everyday objects to serve a need they might not have been designed for — does the name MacGyver ring a bell? — but when you’re employed in the food industry, snapping a pic of your wet socks toasting away in the bread ovens at Subway will not get you any kudos for creativity. [More]
Have Fun Breaking Down This Year’s Worst Company In America Bracket
March 18, 2014
The above bracket will be updated at the end of each day of WCIA competition to reflect that day’s results.
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After going through all of your nominations, then having y’all rank the contenders and eliminate the chaff from the wheat, we’re proud to present the first round match-ups for this year’s Worst Company in America tournament! [More]
Police: Etiquette Vigilante Attacked Taco Bell Customer For Burping, Not Saying “Excuse Me”
By 3.18.14
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard someone burp in a fast food restaurant and not say “excuse me” or something similar, I’d have very heavy pockets and be on my way to the bank to cash those nickels in lickety-split. But one apparent sticker for etiquette doesn’t quite “get” the fast food scene, and turned violent when he couldn’t handle the rude belching of a fellow Taco Bell customer who failed to pardon himself. [More]
Starbucks Offers Vegetable Muffin Or Mini-Quiche In Hong Kong
By 3.17.14
We consider it our duty to keep you updated about the finest and most exciting international fast food available, like Marmite pizza and apple burgers. We’re not so sure that this new pastry offering from Starbucks in Hong Kong will have Americans longing to buy plane tickets, though. It features…vegetables? [More]
28 Attorneys General Urge Major Retailers To Discontinue Tobacco Sales
By 3.17.14
Is it a conflict of interest when stores that sell products to improve your health also make billions every year selling cigarettes? More than two dozen Attorneys General think so, and are lighting a fire under the nation’s largest drugstore and supermarket chains to get them to quit. [More]
Here Are Your Worst Company Contenders For 2014 — Help Us Seed The Brackets!
March 17, 2014
After sorting through a mountain of nomination e-mails, we’ve whittled down the field of competitors for this year’s Worst Company In America tournament to 40 bad businesses. Here’s your chance to have your say on how these players will square off in the bracket, and which bubble teams will get left out in the cold. [More]
Full-Page Ads Thank Trader Joe’s For Giving Consumers The Choice To Eat Drugged-Up Meat
By 3.14.14
Freedom of choice is a pretty awesome thing. But for quite some time, consumers have had very little choice when it comes to buying beef, chicken, or pork that wasn’t fed a massive amount of medically unnecessary antibiotics. That’s one of the reasons why our cohorts at Consumers Union have been pushing supermarket chain Trader Joe’s to stop selling meat from these animals — so consumers could have an affordable, convenient way to get meat that wasn’t pumped full of penicillin. But according to a series of full-page newspaper ads, consumers apparently want hamburgers that are contributing to the spread of drug-resistant infections. [More]
Starbucks Will No Longer Be Keurig’s Exclusive Super-Premium Coffee Brand
By 3.14.14
For the last five years, Starbucks has paraded itself around as the one and only super-premium coffee brand offered as a single-serving Keurig cup. But now the coffee chain and Green Mountain have decided not to go steady any more, in favor of opening up the field to other coffee brands. [More]
No, Chipotle Will Not Be Adding A Breakfast Burrito To The Menu
By 3.14.14
Perhaps you thought that one time you stumbled upon a Chipotle breakfast burrito at the airport was some sort of delirious, travel-induced fever dream. It wasn’t — but the chain has decided to stop testing breakfast options like the egg-filled burritos and not bring them to the wider market. [More]
Costco Sliced Fruit Packs Recalled For Possible Not-Yummy Salmonella Flavoring
By 3.14.14
The FDA and the Oregon-based company that produces Kirkland Signature Real Sliced Fruit packages for Costco have issued a recall of nearly 60,000 cases of the product because the last thing you want with your freeze-dried fruit is Salmonella poisoning. [More]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Takes FDA Chief To Task On Weak Antibiotics Guidance
By 3.13.14
In December, the Food and Drug Administration showed just how little it actually cares about drugs in our food by — after more than 35 years of dragging its feet on the topic — politely asking drug companies to pretty please stop selling medically unnecessary antibiotics to farmers who put the drugs in animal feed solely to encourage muscle tissue growth. Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren had the chance to grill FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on the topic, and she didn’t pull her punches. [More]
