Reader Joanne is wondering if the tiny handwritten mouseprint on the Haagen-Dazs drink special sign is purposefully misleading. She saw the special and ordered the drink, but when she asked for “no ice” she was told that it would cost twice as much, and that this information was on the sign. Her boyfriend examined the sign (after she got her ice-packed drink) and sure enough, in tiny handwriting at the bottom of the sign was a note that said the drink cost twice as much with “no ice.”
deceptive
Häagen-Dazs Drink Special Costs Twice As Much With "No Ice" Thanks To Handwritten Mouseprint
By 7.16.08
This Colgate Toothpaste Packaging Is Awfully Deceptive
By 7.12.08
Logan thought this bonus pack of Colgate contained two equally-sized tubes of toothpaste. After all, the boxes are exactly the same size. Yet when he opened the bonus box, he found a smaller box containing a mini tube of toothpaste.
Act's Large Bottle Of Mouthwash May Say 2x, But It's Really Half The Strength
By 3.9.08
Act mouthwash may look like it comes in two sizes, but according to Mouseprint, the large and small bottles are actually entirely different products. The labeling looks largely the same until you get to the active ingredient. The small bottle contains .05% of sodium fluoride while the large bottle contains .02%. Hit the jump for Act’s sneaky explanation.
AT&T Mobility Agrees To Refund Money To Florida Customers & Pay $2.5 Million To State's CyberFraud Task Force
By 3.4.08
Florida’s Attorney General scored a victory for consumers last week, when AT&T Mobility agreed to refund fees that third-party vendors snuck onto thousands of accounts under the guise of “free” ringtones, wallpapers, and text content. They also agreed to hand over $2.5 million to help fund the state’s recently-created CyberFraud Task Force, to spend $500,000 for “consumer education on safe Internet use,” and to start policing third-party vendors better and make sure all billed items are clearly described.
Best Buy Refuses To Stop Misleading Customers With Secret Website
By 12.27.07
Once again a reader contacts us to complain about Best Buy misleading their customers with an in-store only website that looks identical to the “real” website—except for the prices.
Carbon Monoxide-Treated Meat Is Here To Stay, For Now
By 11.14.07
In hearings today, the meat producers Hormel Foods Corp and Cargill Inc testified that the practice of treating meat with carbon monoxide to preserve its red color is safe and should be allowed. As a compromise, they suggested a label on all CO-treated meat and fish that reminded consumers to refer to the date on the package to determine its freshness. According to Reuters, “officials at the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Agriculture Department said they stand by the safety of the carbon monoxide practice and would revisit the process if new data becomes available.”
Should Artificially Colored Meat Have A Warning Label?
By 10.2.07
Over a year and a half ago, we alerted readers to the sneaky practice of using carbon monoxide to indefinitely preserve raw meat’s red color—several stores admitted to the practice, and while the small amount of gas used does not pose a health risk, the perma-red meat can make it harder to detect spoilage. Now, in the wake of so many food and product safety scandals, the government has proposed a new mandatory warning label as part of the Food and Drug Import Safety Act of 2007. It would read:
Carbon monoxide has been used to preserve the color of this product. Do not rely on color or the ‘use or freeze by’ date alone to judge the freshness or safety of the product. Discard any product with an unpleasant odor, slime, or a bulging package.
Retailers Flog About Their Own Wares, Biased Blogging Becoming Commonplace
By 2.12.07
Unlike other media covering the shows, these commentators are in the awkward position of reviewing their own suppliers — and their aim is more to boost sales rather than offer impartial critique.
Does it work? Absolutely. When Downing links his comments to specific merchandise the store sees a “sales bump” that exceeds expectations, according to a Neiman Marcus spokesperson. As shady as Ken is, least he’s honest about his identity and job function as he lavishes his purple prose on nearly everything he sees.
Connecticut State's Attorney's Office Launches Investigation Into Best Buy's Secret Intranet Site
By 2.12.07
The state attorney general’s office has started an investigation into whether Best Buy maintains a secret intranet site that may have been used by some salesmen to deny customers discounts that appear on the company’s public Internet site.
We applaud the CT State’s Attorney for moving so quickly on this, but wonder if the investigation will have any teeth. As commenter something_amazing pointed out, Best Buy’s price matching guidelines explicitly state that the website does not match store pricing, and the store only matches “a lower advertised price offered by a local retail competitor on the same available brand and model.”
