Enjoy yourselves out there this 4th, folks, but do remember to be careful with those fireworks, as seen in this edited version of the CPSC fireworks safety video set to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. It’s funny when mannequins blow up. Your hands, jeans, or the desk in front of your face, not so much.
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Ex Countrywide Manager Exposes Its Lies
By 6.30.08
A former regional manager for Countrywide Home Loans, the mega mortgage company whose shady mortgage mill came to epitomize the subprime meltdown, went on The Today Show camera to detail some of the company’s questionable practices. Here’s some of the tricks he warned upper management about during his 6-month stint before he was fired for refusing to give loans to unqualified buyers:
VIDEO: Maggots Found Squirming In Box Of Goobers
By 6.27.08
Chomp, chomp, chomp, smoosh! Blogger Savannah Red’s wife was enjoying a freshly opened box of Goobers when she bit into something not sweet or chocolatey, but squishy: a maggot.
PedEgg Ads Scam, Suit Alleges
By 6.26.08
Who would have ever thought that a low-budget infomercial touting an egg-shaped device home pedicure device with “100 precision microfiles” might be deceptive in some way? Not, apparently, its actors, two of whom are suing the makers of “PedEgg.” The thespians say they PedEgg told them the commercial would be internets-only. Instead, it’s on the national airways. We don’t care about that part. Rather, we chuckle over the suit’s revelation that PedEgg hired a horror-makeup guy to apply “artificial bumps and discoloration” to their feet to increase the contrast between the “before” and “after” shots. Quelle horreru! Besides their dishonest advertising tactics, someone should also sue PedEgg for the gross-out shot when they dump all the foot shavings in the trash. See the full commercial inside.
Ben Popken On TV Talking 'Bout Shrinking Packages
By 6.20.08
Here’s the clip of yours truly, Ben Popken, on FOX 13 Tampa yesterday talking about the Grocery Shrink Ray that all the writers on the site have been doing a great job of covering. The interview was done over Skype webcam and I think it came out pretty well. “Shrinkage” and “downsizing” may be nothing new, but I think we’re going to see more goods shrinking and by greater degrees in the coming months. It’s practically a secret inflation. At the end of the story they say that some manufacturers are considering doing away with gallons of milk and instead selling 3/4 of a gallon, for the same price. If that happens, I think a lot more messages like the recording of the good ol’ boy upset over the downsized Jimmy Dean’s sausage are going to be left on customer complaint lines across America. As the guy in the New York Daily News shrinking package article (which I was also quoted in, whoo), said, “Soon people will be buying empty bags and empty boxes.”
Get Your Drink On With Pepsi Blue Hawaii
By 6.16.08
If Ice Cucumber Pepsi only left you nauseous for more, Pepsi has unveiled its “Blue Hawaii” flavor available only in Japan. The antifreeze-blue concoction delivers hints of pineapple and lemon which if consumed, will make you feel as if you have sailed into a heavenly island paradise, or something. Having fully recovered from his Ice Cucumber Pepsi review last year, reader Peter sacrifices himself for a video review of Pepsi Blue Hawaii. The video, inside…
Is Youtube's "Wii Fit Underwear Girl" Actually A Marketing Campaign?
By 6.16.08
Nintendo is facing accusations that a popular Youtube video is nothing more than a viral-video marketing campaign for the Wii Fit, reports The Telegraph. The video, quite simply, features a young woman using a virtual hula-hoop in her underwear. What separates it from other videos is that the 2 people in the video have both been identified as employees of the same advertising company. Nintendo denies the allegations. The video and details, inside…
The Envelope System: The Spreadsheet-Free Way To Manage Your Cash
By 6.10.08
Want to get some kind of money plan in place but spreadsheets cause hives to burst all over your face? Then you might like The Envelope System, and No Credit Needed’s video explaining how it works. Basically, you cash your entire paycheck each pay period and then put every dollar in a series of envelopes in different categories, with set limits for each category. Once you’ve spent the envelope for that category, no more spending in that category. Change goes into a piggy bank. Excess left over at the end of the pay period goes into savings or to paying off more debt. As a very “analog” “lo-fi” “old-school” method of budgeting, the envelope system is hard to beat.
Yum! Brands Introduces New Wearable Feedbags
By 6.10.08
Whether you’re trying to get as much of your Yum! Brand food into your mouth as humanly possible or just not in the mood to raise those heavy old arms to feed yourself, new wearable feed bags are functional, fashionable and sweeping the nation. Foods from Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut work the best, but we’ve found that wearable feedbags work on almost any kind of food, and they look great too. See The Onion video, inside…
Greg's Office Max Freakout
By 6.5.08
This guy on San Fran’s “Woody Show” goes into Office Max, twice, and loses his shit after every item he brings up to the counter rings up higher than its shelf-price. Not only does no one seem to care, one employee even insinuates that the complainant might be partially at fault for Office Max’s inability to shelve things in the right place. Neither disc jockey, producer, crazed customer, Office Max employees number 1 and 2, nor Office Max Manager seem to realize that if the item is found on the store shelves under a certain price, as long as the description matches the product, the store has to honor the price. It’s the law. In addition to a an amusing radio clip and animation, The Woody Show also has material here for a complaint to their state’s Attorney General. Video, inside…
Subliminal Advertising: KFC Wants You To Think There's Money In Your Sandwich
By 5.23.08
Subliminal messages in advertising has been a controversial topic for years. Is it underhanded? Does it even work? Reader “umlaut75” sent us a video of a KFC Snacker television commercial that shows a mysterious tiny picture of a dollar bill mixed in with the lettuce. As far as intrigue is concerned, it’s not exactly the Zapruder film but it does make us wonder. The video, inside…
"Checkmate," The Straight Dope On Check Cashing Joints (Cameo By Ben Popken)
By 5.21.08
The guys who brought you “The Ghetto Big Mac” have a new video up about the the hilarious and not-so-hilarious realities behind check chasing joints (with guest appearance by yours truly, Ben Popken). Besides the part where Internet Celebrities Rafi and Dallas try to cash an oversized check at one of these places, what I like best about this video is that it actually makes a sound case for check cashing places at times. If there’s no banks around in a poor neighborhood, what other choice do you have? Especially when banks have constructed all sorts of fees to discourage patronage by lower-income customers. Like Dallas says in the vid, “You really know you’ve made it when you move from check cashing fees to ATM fees.”
How Robots Are Killing Customer Service
By 5.20.08
Here is the live audio and powerpoint from a recent presentation I gave called, “The 5 Things Your Customers Aren’t Telling You.” This is number 3, “Stop Hiding Behind Walls Of Robots.” It’s all about how companies think they’re saving money by replacing humans with machines but sometimes machines can’t do jobs as well as humans, especially when it comes to customer service. I brought the point to life with a funny little story about eBay and their wonderfully inept automated email response system. I hope you enjoy the video, including the intro and outro ditties I worked up on my girlfriend’s old Yamaha synth. [More]
Step Back In Time To The Blockbuster Living Museum
By 5.16.08
Before the days of Netflix and the internet there was the “video store.” According to The Onion, Blockbuster was “a specialty shop where customers would exchange money for the short term use of videos in an archaic system called “renting.” Now we can visit the Blockbuster Living Museum to relive those days of yore. Watch The Onion video, inside…
Waste Your Saturday With 50 Funny Commercial Parodies
By 5.10.08
Nerve.com has assembled a list of 50 fake commercials for everything from Tylenol BM (you’ll sleep right through your bodily functions!) to the Woomba (it cleans your noony!). There’s even some that don’t involve body parts, like Lily Tomlin’s increasingly agitated housewife hawking “G-r-r-r Detergent” in 1975. Our favorite recent commercial parody that didn’t make the list is probably the Jamie Lee Curtis commercial for Activia, because you can never get enough of women eating yogurt.
Walgreens Thanks Nurse For Rescuing Comatose Diabetic By Sending Her Glucometer Bill
By 5.8.08
A woman went into a potentially fatal diabetic coma while in line at a New York-area Walgreens. Two nurses and an off duty sheriff’s officer happened to be in line. They grab a carton of OJ, some sugar, and a glucometer and manage to raise her blood sugar a little bit. According to their reports, after the paramedics took the patient away, the Walgreens manager came out to demand that the merchandise be paid for, otherwise it’s shoplifting. Good thing they were there, otherwise he might have tried to fine the diabetic for blocking the checkout line.
Consumerist Mentioned On Conan O' Brien
By 5.8.08
Apparently BJ Novak from The Office mentioned The Consumerist on Conan O’ Brien last night because last year we wrote about how he went on Conan to expose how Cadbury Eggs keep shrinking, and it soon blew up into a big deal with a bunch of other places picking up the story. I can’t wait for The Office to do an episode where Michael outlaws the use of paper and pens. Here’s the clip.
