George Orwell’s 1984 imagined a bleak bureaucratic future where free speech was easily inhibited. Perhaps the people who run his estate (and certainly the people at Cafe Press) should read the book; or at least brush up on copyright basics. [More]
irony
Utah KFC: Buy Humongous, Sugary Drink And We'll Contribute $1 To Diabetes Research
By 6.20.11
A promotion at a Utah KFC seemingly gives customers the opportunity to aid diabetes research while doing their best to make themselves possible patients. [More]
'Made In America' Bib Is Cute, But Made In China
By 5.26.11
Nathan came across this cute bib that allows your child to declare that he or she was “Made in America.” It’s cute and all, but just slightly ironic that the bib itself was made in China. “I understand what the bib manufacturer is trying to say with the phrase,” he notes. “I enjoy the fact that it could be read as a contradiction.”
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Honda Spokesman Gets Screwed By Honda Dealer
By 5.9.11
An actor who pitches Honda cars in their ads says he got screwed over by a Honda dealership when he tried to get the very same deal he helps sell on TV. [More]
New "Ironic" Urban Outfitters Store Parodies The Mom & Pop Shops Killed By Its Ilk
By 6.21.10
In a move sure to raise the blood pressure of those angry people who remember New York City before it had a Kmart and a bunch of Best Buys, Urban Outfitters has designed an “ironic” storefront built to resemble the sort of bodegas, little hardware stores and other independent businesses that New York used to be composed of. [More]
New Coke Bottles Made From Sugar Cane, Soda Still Made From Corn
By 1.27.10
At a time when everyone is fretting about their “carbon footprint,” it’s nice to see that Coca-Cola has decided to to reduce the amount of petroleum used to make their bottles by using some plant-based plastic. But not just any plant: the bottles will be made from mono-ethylene glycol derived from sugar cane. [More]
Former Citigroup Head Waxes Nostalgic For Regulation He Helped Kill
By 10.28.09
Retired head of Citigroup John Reed seems to have some misgivings about the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932, which his company lobbied to kill in the first place.
HP Sells Ink By Wasting It
By 9.22.09
Reader Michael Dillon recently noticed that the Weather Channel’s “printable” 10-Day Forecast page isn’t exactly printer-friendly: it includes an ad that’s roughly 80 percent solid black. Printing it out would mean wasting ink. That ad is selling… (drumroll, please)… HP printer’s ink.
Hy-Vee Invites Customers To Fight Diabetes While Getting Diabetes
By 9.11.09
A reader sent us this great event that Hy-Vee, a midwestern grocery chain, recently held to fight diabetes. Unfortunately the benefit has already ended, but join them next weekend when they fight cirrhosis with dollar beers.
Top 10 Ironic Ads From History
By 7.2.09
Remember when you could buy barbiturates for the baby? Cover your house with asbestos? Or get heroin from the doctor? Okay, probably not, but thanks to the immortal beauty of advertising, you can take a trip back in time. Here’s our pick of some of the most ironic ads in American history.
Maybe This Ticketmaster Captcha Will Convince You To Rethink That Overpriced Concert
By 4.25.09
This is what must pass for an existential howl from a guilt-racked corporate monster.
Chicago Tribune Fires Reporter Covering The Recession
By 4.23.09
Let’s pause a moment to consider this sentence from Crain’s Chicago Business. “On the same day the Chicago Tribune cut 53 jobs from its newsroom, its parent Tribune Co. asked a Bankruptcy Court to approve of $13.3 million in bonuses and other incentive payments to 703 employees.”
Inventor Of World Wide Web Becomes Online Fraud Victim
By 3.17.09
The man who invented the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has fallen prey to online fraud. It’s always a sad day when you’re betrayed by your own creation. Why, just the other day my best LEGO warrior ran away to join a DUPLOS commune. They live in a big circle, take what they need, and contribute their fair share of time in the community internet cafe running advance-fee fraud scams. Duplicity, built brick by interlocking brick.
Hypocrisy Abounds: Southwest Paints Bikini-Clad Model On Jet
By 2.13.09
Do you remember Kyla Ebbert? She was kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for wearing clothes deemed ‘too sexy‘ back in 2007. Nearly two years later, Southwest has come full circle: They’ve painted a swimsuit model on the side of one of their jumbo jets as part of a partnership with Sports Illustrated.
Convicted Pedophile Sues AmEx For $4 Million, Says Creditor Violated His Privacy
By 8.2.08
Meet James Colliton, a disbarred corporate lawyer who served 19 months in jail after bribing a mother so he could sleep with her 13 and 15 year-old daughters. Colliton recently sued American Express for $4 million, claiming that he was captured because the credit card company told authorities that the fugitive gutter-cretin was signing for hotel rooms in Ontario.
115F Degree Ice-Cold Coca-Cola
By 6.5.08
Reader Stevenson was doing some grocery shopping in the heat of the afternoon, one summer’s day. Feeling parched, he located a Coca-Cola machine which appeared to him as a merciful desert oasis, or maybe it was just a mirage. Eager to quench his thirst, he hastily fed a dollar bill into the machine. He reached into the machine with the expectation of cool tasty relief, but what he retrieved from the bowels of the mechanical hell-beast was a bottle of Coke that was so f’ng hot he could barely maintain his grip. Shocked and confused, he looked around and caught a glimpse of the machine’s digital readout that mockingly read “ICE COLD COCA COLA 115F.” Stevenson’s letter, inside…
PricewaterhouseCoopers Real Estate Expert Doesn't Own Much Real Estate
By 3.26.08
Marketplace had a telling interview with Susan Smith of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the editor-in-chief of a new report about the commercial real estate market titled “Rough Road Ahead for Investors.”
