In one of the weirdest business moves we’ve ever seen, Wal-Mart has decided to award business grants to their own small competitors, even as the company tries to smash them, Incredible Hulk style, into a bloody patina.
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WalMart *Does* Sell Purple Ribbon
By 3.30.06
We’ve been covering this Wal-Mart in Missouri accused of refusing to sell “immoral” purple Mardi Gras ribbon. Eagle-eyed reader Beth took a close look at some of the pictures the NoCoast blog posted to support their claim.
Photos: WalMart Won’t Sell Sinful Mardi Gras Ribbon
By 3.30.06
We earlier reported that a Missouri Wal-Mart might be refusing to stock ribbons useable for Mardi Gras decorations. Jon asserts that when he tried to buy purple ribbon, he was told Mardi Gras was immoral, un-Christian, caused rape, and he was escorted from the store by Wal-Mart employees.
UPDATE: Wal-Mart’s ‘Sinful’ Purple Ribbon, a Hoax?
By 3.29.06
As we reported earlier, a Missouri Wal-Mart was accused of refusing to sell purple ribbon, stating it could be used for immoral Mardis Gras celebrations.
Walmart Refuses to Sell ‘Sinful’ Purple Ribbon, Man Claims
By 3.29.06
Jon usually avoids shopping at Wal-Mart, but was blessed/cursed with a gift card. He wanted to buy some purple ribbon and use it to make a Mardi Gras chair. He claims Wal-Mart refused to sell him the ribbon for ‘moral’ reasons and escorted him out the store.
Starforce Tells Customer: Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire
By 3.27.06
Caveat: the second people start sissily flapping their hands at their sides in a huff and crying “libel” is the second we roll our eyes and start rooting for the other side. People don’t understand the term, thinking it somehow gives them legal power to sue people who criticize or insult them. But when the other side to root for is Starforce, and when rooting is shothand for “root kit,” we’re ready to grasp the peaked tips of our skulls and pull ourselves in bloody half by the scalp, to accurately externalize our division.
Starforce Accuses Critics Of Being Russian Mob
By 3.22.06
Starforce — a Russian company that sells highly-invasive copy-protection to software companies and threatens lawsuits against its critics — went up about a tenth of a notch in our books when they apologized to Stardock for posting links to illegal torrents of their most recent game, in response to Stardock’s implied criticism of their software.
Exxon Sued For Indonesian Torture
By 3.9.06
Exxon has lost the first round in a lawsuit implicating Exxon in the torture of 11 Indonesian villagers in 1997. The villagers claim that Exxon’s Indonesian subsidiary allowed its facilities to be used to torture them by the Indonesian government.
Parody Wal-Mart T-Shirt Designer Sued
By 3.8.06
Charles Smith of Bentonville, Arkansas is under fire from the Wa-Mart’s switchblade gang of crack attorneys from marketing t-shirts with the message “I {heart} WAL*OCAUST. They have family values and their alcohol, tobacco and firearms are 20% off.”
3rd Party Phishing Scam
By 3.6.06
B.L. Ochman tips us off to a type of Paypal phishing scam to watch out for. She received a Pay Pal receipt lookalike for a watch from a company called Omegamove. The amount was for $395.85 and was to be shipped to one James Dickinson. Presumably, the scammers think you’ll see that, say, omg, I didn’t order a $400 watch and follow the link to dispute the order. After which, you enter in your Paypal info and they steal it. Paypal has confirmed the email to be a phish and is investigating.
DOJ Smacks Subpoenas Down On Music Industry
By 3.3.06
Surprise, surprise. The Department of Justice has started issuing subpoenas against the music industry, including Sony BMG and Warner, for price fixing and collusion. Since it’s a sloppy Reuters brief we’re linking to here, mainly consisting of a list of the companies involved, here’s a blockquote with the summary gyst:
Round 7: Google vs. Sony BMG
By 3.2.06
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AT&T and Verizon CEOs Whine to Congress
By 2.16.06
We love whiny CEOs here at the Consumerist. There’s something special about men with net worths greater than most small nations complaining to Congress about unfairness that tickles our irony receptors. In this case, Ed Whitacre, CEO of AT&T (pictured) and Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon Communications, traveled to the Capitol to bitch about the regulatory barriers-to-entry that telephone companies have when trying to get into the video delivery business—a business obviously dominated by cable companies.
Dear Nvidia’s Mister Perez…
By 2.9.06
We’re passing on a message from our buddies over at Church of the Customer Blog:
Complaints Lead to Mystery Harassment
By 2.9.06
Michael Harrison’s experienced an update of the classic ‘Yellow Pages’ prank—where someone signs a target up for every magazine subscription, free credit card, and food delivery person in as small a window as possible—for posting negative comments about a company on his blog. He suspects the dozens of phone calls, spam, and junk mail he received came as recompense for a negative post about BatteryGeek.net’s service based on the IP history of posters on various trackbacks and blogs.
Nvidia ‘Focus Group’ Member Details Hidden Program
By 2.8.06
For the record, while there are certainly “Manchurian Fans” being hired to promote products in the games and/or gaming hardware world, Nvidia and AEG have both clearly denied that they have hired stealth marketers to create personas to promote Nvidia products. We have no reason not to believe them and have stated that elsewhere on the site, but am putting it up again just to outline it. (Naturally, we’d like to know who is hiring these stealth marketers, so feel free to pass on anything regarding this you feel germane.)
