One of the perks of being a professional athlete is that you get paid the big bucks to endorse products, based on the premise that your fans will buy anything you put your name on. But one report says those lucrative endorsement deals are often tied to unhealthy foods marketed toward kids. [More]
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Children Died Because Johnson & Johnson Insisted On Selling Two Types Of Kids’ Tylenol
By 9.20.13
At the intersection of bad marketing, inept regulation, and unwitting consumers, you’ll find the graves of young children, just some of the infants who, according to a new report from ProPublica, have become ill over the decades because Johnson & Johnson and other makers of acetaminophen-based painkillers insisted on selling two youth-targeted varieties of the drug while the FDA did what it does best — nothing. [More]
Angry Mom Punishes Daughters, Makes Profit, By Auctioning Off Their One Direction Tickets
By 9.20.13
I’m not a parent, but I do remember being a horrible teenager and occasionally being yelled at by my much put-upon mother. Like most parents, there were times when she took items and privileges away from me as punishment, but I don’t think she ever made a hefty profit off me by selling anything — and venting angrily — on eBay. [More]
Airlines Adding ‘Flying Nannies’ And Lactation Stations
By 9.5.13
Rather than banishing kids to a create a child-free zone on its planes or removing an entire family from the aircraft because of an upset youngster, one airline has decided to train its cabin crew as “onboard nannies,” while another carrier is carving out a small section for traveling moms who need a few moments of privacy. [More]
Did Rue 21 Kick This Teen Out Of Store For Being Too Fat?
By 9.3.13
There are gracious ways to tell someone that your store doesn’t sell clothes that fit them. Throwing a teenage customer out of the store by saying, “You’re too big to be in this store. I need you to leave” is not one of them. That’s what an Oregon teen claims happened to her at a Rue 21 store at her local mall. [More]
Costco Finally Stops Selling Yummy-Looking Detergent Pods In Clear Candy Jars
By 8.27.13
Several weeks ago, we told you about Costco’s questionable choice of putting its poisonous laundry detergent pods in a clear plastic container that looks an awful lot like the plastic jars it uses for things like animal crackers, nuts, and candies, especially in light of the numerous instances of young children licking, eating, or playing with these toxic toys. Now it looks like the wholesaler has come to its senses. [More]
Does This JCPenney Ad Promote Bullying Or Just Reality?
By 8.14.13
After complaints from parents, JCPenney has pulled a controversial commercial from television networks. The back-to-school spot includes a section that lightheartedly makes fun of a very real issue: kids being bullied and/or excluded because they’re not wearing the right clothes. [More]
Costco’s Animal Crackers Container Is More Secure Than The Store’s Poisonous Detergent Pods
By 8.6.13
From the moment that Tide and others unleashed brightly colored, shiny, borderline adorable detergent pods on consumers, little kids have been licking, eating, and playing with them, which is a bad thing. And while some manufacturers have already begun shifting away from easy-open clear packaging, Costco puts its Kirkland Signature pods in a container that looks remarkably like the packaging it uses for food products and is easier to open. [More]
Another Restaurant Hops On Kid-Banning Bandwagon
By 8.6.13
We’ve told you before about restaurants that established bans on screaming youngsters, kids under 6 years of age, and anyone younger than 18. Now a Houston restaurant has decided that after 7 p.m., diners need to be at least eight years old to get in. [More]
Are Crying Kids Reason To Be Booted From An Airplane? US Airways Thinks So
By 8.2.13
We see a lot of stories about passengers being removed from airplanes, some of which seem legitimate (intoxicated, verbally abusive travelers) and others that don’t (people who ask a flight attendant one too many questions). Here’s the story of a Consumerist reader who, along with her two young sons, was ejected from a flight because her crying kids were delaying takeoff — but is that really reason enough? [More]
No One Has Marketed The Hell Out Of The Tooth Fairy, Until Now
By 7.23.13
Visits from the Tooth Fairy are, by their nature, a commercial transaction. Many families buy or make special under-pillow holders that make it easier for the overnight visitor to find the teeth she (or he) is after and leave behind some cash. What the Tooth Fairy lacked was a coordinated marketing campaign with an online game, books, costumes, toys and other merch. Until now. [More]
How To Make Your Own Sidewalk Chalk At Home
By 6.3.13
Okay, so we’ve established that painting your own crosswalks is a terrible idea, but there are other ways to decorate your driveway and the street in front of your home. If you’re a kid, anyway. Or very eccentric. Chalk can get expensive, though, especially if your kid shares with the entire neighborhood. Is there a cheaper way to get it? Yes, there is. [More]
Printing Error Turns Pixar Kiddie Pool Into Informational Image On Bad Touching
By 5.20.13
What should be a happy photo of a mom hanging out in the yard with her two boys in their cool new Pixar-themed pool is horribly, terribly, tragically transformed into something much darker, all thanks to an apparent error at the printing press that managed to slip through unnoticed. [More]
How Unscripted Are Those Kids’ Responses In The AT&T Ads?
By 5.10.13
We’ve certainly made no attempt to hide our distaste with some of AT&T’s business practices, but we are all stupidly charmed by those seemingly improvised AT&T ads in which youngsters in a classroom respond to questions like “Who thinks more is better than less?” But considering how amusing some of these ads can be, we’ve been curious about just how scripted those kids’ replies are. [More]
5 Airports Where Being Stuck With Your Kids Might Not Be An Absolute Nightmare
By 5.2.13
While none of us at Consumerist have kids — that we’ll legally admit to — we’ve traveled with other people’s youngsters, and we’ve watched in jaw-dropped horror at the antics of some bored, confined children at airports. Thankfully, there are some airports that provide a place for traveling terrors to blow off steam without irritating grumpy grown-ups like me. [More]
Grocery Store Workers Replace Child’s iPad After It’s Stolen Inside Store
By 4.9.13
While his mother grocery shopped, someone stole an iPad out of the hands of a 6-year-old boy with Down syndrome. The store’s security cameras didn’t capture anything, and the only information the family had was the testimony of his twelve-year-old sister, who also has Down syndrome: “The blonde lady took it.” The story could have ended there, and made everyone sad. Mean person steals expensive but important educational tool from special needs child. Only that wasn’t the end of the story. [More]
Lunch Ladies Teach Middle Schoolers About Debt, Trash Their Lunches If They Owe Money
By 4.5.13
It’s never too early for kids to learn that living in revolving debt is bad, but how you get that lesson across is a tricky thing. For example, let’s say that you’re the contractor that serves school lunches in a middle school, and you take away the trays of children whose parents owe the lunch vendor money and toss a few dozen perfectly edible meals in the trash. This would be a bad way to teach kids about debt. [More]
Warning: Kids Might Eat Expanding Polymer Balls That Look Like Candy
By 4.3.13
Here’s the thing: if you make something that’s brightly colored and looks like candy, kids are going to eat it. Water Balz and other similar expanding, water-absorbing polymer toys seem pretty fun, and are also bright and shiny and look like candy. The problem comes when a pet or a child who is too young to understand gets hold of one of these delicious treats and eats it. [More]
