You may have heard that more than 130 Zicam nasal spray users had lost their sense of smell, according to the Associated Press. The Food and Drug Administration has recommended people stop using the product, which contains zinc. Zinc can cause temporary or permanent damage to nerves needed to smell, the store states.

Consumers might have missed the tiny "homeopathic" label on the packaging of the product, marketed as a cold remedy. But these and other homeopathic products are on pharmacy shelves without Food and Drug Administration testing for side effects or efficacy, according to the Associated Press.

The Associated Press analyzed FDA side effect reports and found more than 800 situations where people may have gotten ill from homeopathic remedies.

What are these products? According the AP story: 

Continue reading "Zicam users lose sense of smell: Naughty Business of the Week" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Consumer safety, Healthcare, Marketing/Advertising
        

Are you ready for some shopping? No, seriously. I'm saying you need to prepare if you're going to brave holiday shopping this week, online or off. Here are three useful tools offered by many retailer Web sites that Consumer Reports Money Adviser sats cab help you find good deals this week:

RSS Feeds- RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, allows retailers to send Web pages with news about sales and promotions directly to your PC. Wal-Mart, for example, has multiple feeds, including price rollbacks, clearance, and upcoming music and video release dates. To use feeds, you need an RSS reader. Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has one built in. So do personal home pages like My Yahoo, My AOL, and iGoogle. They can be found at Best Buy, CircuitCity, CompUSA, Overstock.com, RadioShack, Sears, and Target.

Continue reading "Smart Holiday Shopping on the Web" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Computers, Holiday shopping, Marketing/Advertising
        

My earlier post got me looking at infomercials at work. I've already told you I'm mesmerized by the make-a-hot-pocket-out-of-anything commercial, but I also like this one on the Tater Mitts.

I can't explain why, especially since I almost never buy potatoes to cook at home, but the ease of peeling those darn potatoes makes me want to get some Tater Mitts (if not just for being able to say Tater Mitts repeatedly whilst giggling over the kitchen sink).

It also got me to thinking that I've only ever bought two things from an infomercial ever despite watching countless hours of such nonsense. What can I say? I'm easily entertained.

Continue reading "Share your favorite infomercial" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Marketing/Advertising
        

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a fondness for watching cheezy infomercials.  They used to air late at night, but now there are entire channels devoted to them.

So I often find myself lingering far too long, when I'm channel surfing, on the dozens of client affirmations for Proactiv, Cindy Crawford's buy-these-beauty-products-and-never-age-like-me schtick, and that one doo-dad that makes hot pockets out of any kind of food you want to eat. I have just one word for that last infomercial: awesome.

One infomercial, however, drives me up the wall. Which one, you ask? Any infomercial that involves Kevin Trudeau and whatever book he's shilling on natural cures or weight loss. Why does this dude bother me?

Because a federal judge has banned Kevin Trudeau from infomercials in which he has an interest for three years. He's also been ordered to pay more than $5 million in profits from his book, "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About." This recent ruling in August confirms a 2004 contempt finding against Trudeau -- the second time he's been found in contempt of court in the past four years.

Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois affirmed his 2007 ruling that Trudeau "clearly, and no doubt intentionally," violated a provision o a 2004 stipulated court order that prohibits him from misrepresenting the content of his books in his infomercials.

Continue reading "The 3-year FTC Ban that Kevin Trudeau Doesn't Want You to Know About" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cable/Satellite/TV/Comcast/FiOS, Complaints, Consumer protection, Consumer safety, Healthcare, Marketing/Advertising, Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

Thanks to Mario Armstrong , I learned yesterday around 5:30 p.m. that Computer Harbor, a computer store in Federal Hill, is one of the first places in Baltimore to offer the little plug-in device and the home modem that you can use to connect to Sprint's new WiMAX network. Here's a map of the store's location: (ed note: a Gus post, dear readers -- DD)

I called the store and spoke with Wendell Williams, a store manager, and he said they just got the devices in stock Monday. (Wow! Sprint launched the service the same day in Baltimore. Now that's some logistics planning. I thought it would be a little while longer before they went on sale in Charm City.) Williams said he's sure other stores in the area have them, he just didn't know which ones.)

Continue reading "WiMAX Watch: Buying the Devices That Bring You WiMAX" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Computers, Marketing/Advertising, Shopping, Technology, WiMAX Watch
        

Remember the good old days when you'd eat just any old thing without worrying about what you were popping into your mouth? Ah. Ignorance was bliss, or so we thought until we realized what all that fat, salt, trans fat and calories we were ingesting was doing to our bodies.

How many of you out there read food labels more carefully now?

How many of you buy food based on whether it's organic, or trans fat-free, or natural? I'm betting a lot more people read food labels and worry more about where their food comes from than we used to.

Anyhoo, the Food and Drug Administration issued draft guidelines last week for approving genetically engineered (GE), sometimes referred to as genetically modified (GM), produced food.

As the FDA press release on GE food explains:

Genetic engineering generally refers to the use of recombinant DNA (rDNA) techniques to introduce new characteristics or traits into an organism. When scientists splice together pieces of DNA and introduce a spliced DNA segment into an organism to give the organism new properties, it's called rDNA technology. The spliced piece of DNA is called the rDNA construct. A GE animal is one that contains an rDNA construct intended to give the animal new characteristics or traits.

Continue reading "Food for thought: Frankenanimals" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Consumer protection, Consumer safety, Food, Healthcare, Marketing/Advertising, Technology
        

I own a Mac laptop and a little iPod. I use the Mac all the time and love it. I like my iPod, but I don't really use it much because I'm still a fan of regular old-fashioned radio (don't judge, I'm old-school like that). So yes, I am a fan of Apple products.

But can I just tell you how I'm so over those smarmy, cooler-than-thou Apple commercials? At first, I thought they were kind of cute. But the more I watch them, the more they grate on my nerves. Seriously. Can Apple come off any more elitist than they do in their ads with Mac Boy?

Am I the only one annoyed?

I gotta say, though, as annoyed as I am about the Mac ads, I have to say that the Seinfeld-Gates ads that Microsoft has been running weren't really doing much for me either. Slightly amusing, but... meh. Not very memorable, just odd.

Continue reading "Annoying or Cool: Microsoft ads vs. Apple ads" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Computers, Marketing/Advertising
        

The Associated Press reported this week that the government is banning phone calls of pre-recorded sales messages unless consumers agreed to receive those calls.

Now, we've told you before how annoying those extended warranty robo-telemarketing threats are, and how Verizon and some Attorneys General are suing those annoying extended warranty telemarketing companies, but how happy are you that the Feds have listened to the barrage of complaints they received about these pests?

The Federal Trade Commission says that by December, all pre-recorded calls must provide an opt-out selection to make it easy for consumers to stop getting those calls. Effective Sept. 1, sellers and telemarketers may place pre-recorded calls only to consumers who have provided signed and written agreements to receive them.

Hallelujah.

The rules won't affect informational pre-recorded messages, which might notify you of appointments or cancellations or things of that nature as long as they're not trying to sell goods or services.

Continue reading "Feds ban super annoying pre-recorded calls" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Marketing/Advertising, Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

We've told you about shrinking ice cream cartons, less paper towels and toilet paper in packages, and reduced beer glass sizes, now your chips are getting nipped.

In case you missed it in the comments, Reader Anon pointed out:

"The conspiracy grows, and it's just not with beer."

Anon, of course, is referring to the smaller packaging for those tasty, orange-finger-staining Doritos.

Michael Brush, from msn's Money Central writes:

Does it seem you run out of Doritos, orange juice or mayonnaise faster than you used to?

Your mind is not playing tricks on you.

Slammed by the skyrocketing costs of agricultural goods and energy, many companies are quietly shortchanging their customers by putting a little less into bags, jars and boxes.

Continue reading "Holy Frijoles, shrinking Doritos." »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Complaints, Economy, Food, Marketing/Advertising, Naughty businesses/NBotW
        

Leave it up to the great and wonderful Greg Garland, the paper's former investigative reporter who worked his last day with us on Friday, to leave us with this little tip before he left:

I was trying to check on something relating to unemployment compensation and mistakenly wound up on a site www.md.unemployment.com. It seems like you are on a government site at first, but it isn’t. It’s for profit companies guiding you to different sites. The actual maryland site is www.mdunemployment.com.

No dot between md and unemployment. I bet a lot of people get misled and confused by the for profit site, and steered wrong.

Continue reading "Steering you right to mdunemployment" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Computers, Marketing/Advertising, Wages
        

When I'm confronted by a problem I don't always know how to solve myself, I always try to find someone with more knowledge, power or leverage to assist me when I want to Get-R-Done, a handy phrase coined by that lovable Larry the Cable Guy.

In the case where I was getting annoying telemarketing calls about extended auto warranty offers on my cell phone, out of curiosity, I contacted my provider and asked them if they received a lot of complaints from their customers about these calls.

What Verizon's Leigh Schachter told me, warmed my heart.

Turns out, these auto warranty calls annoy A LOT of Verizon Wireless customers, which in turn, annoys Verizon Wireless a great deal, too, said Schachter in a phone interview with me yesterday. Schachter is assistant general counsel for ligitation for Verizon.

How annoyed is Verizon? Annoyed enough to file suit in state and federal court to stop these shenanigans.

Continue reading "Verizon hates annoying auto warranty calls, too: Part Two" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Consumer protection, Marketing/Advertising, Warranties
        

I was so glad to hear I'm not the only one annoyed by pesky extended auto warranty offers in my mail, my home phone and cell phone. After the column ran, my colleagues here in the office were quick to send me the numbers annoying them, too.

Marvelous Marcia over on the Metro Desk received several. She's been taking down numbers:

562-288-7125

517-931-2516 (not warranty, but low cost healthcare)

866-788-9833

The great and wonderful Real Estate Wonk-esse herself, Jamie, sent me this number: 402-562-8737. "Please don't make the mistake of driving without a warranty," the recorded voice urged.

Steve from North East said he got rid of one company, but now he's getting a number from outside of the country: 011-50622377029 Costa Rica!!!

Continue reading "Lots of people hate extended auto warranty calls, Part One" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)
Categories: Cellular/Landline/Voice over Internet, Complaints, Consumer protection, Marketing/Advertising, Naughty businesses/NBotW, Warranties
        

I know I've told you that I'm a recovering spender so the urge to spend without thinking is always with me. I'm much better about shopping around for big-ticket products, but the one area where I still mindlessly spend is the grocery store. I have to constantly remind myself to pay attention to prices or else suffer sticker shock at check-out.

Just ask my Mama about the time she sent me to the store to fetch a frozen duck. Like a dope, I paid $30 at the Giant's for the same duck that Food Lion sold for $12. Oooh, my Mama was mad at me.

Now, I find out it's not just prices I have to pay attention to these days. I also have to keep an eye on the net weight and package of products I'm buying, says Mouseprint.org, a sister site of ConsumerWorld and MrConsumer.

Mouseprint, which exposes the fine print in product labels and contracts, has found that ice cream manufacturers have downsized their ice cream containers from 56 ounces to 48 ounces.

Continue reading "The incredible shrinking ice cream" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Complaints, Food, Marketing/Advertising
        

Lots of people seem to be in an uproar over the sorta topless images of Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair Magazine that hit newstands this week. I keep hearing all this talk about how outrageous it is to force kids to grow up too fast or to sex up their image too soon.

Geez. Couldn't we have said this about Britney Spears? Or Jodi Foster? Or Brooke Shields?

I'm all for kids staying kids as long as possible (I still worry about my 18-year-old niece crossing the street by herself even though I know she's heading off to college soon), but if we're going to start pointing fingers, maybe we need to take a good hard look at all that's being marketed to our kids and what we seem to be lapping up as consumers.

That photo on the right is from Loews Hotels in an ill-timed press release sent out Monday (thanks to HotelChatter for alerting everyone to it) to lure teens and tweens to "spa" at the chain. Nothing wrong with that, as HotelChatter points out, but get a load of the adult-like offerings:

Continue reading "Businesses sexing up teens a la Miley Cyrus" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Marketing/Advertising
        

Bring Wal-Mart up in conversation and it's amazing how quickly people want to tell you how much they love or hate the behemoth.

For some, the big box store stands for everything that is evil -- it kills mom and pop stores, it hires workers for low wages, it forces manufacturers to cut costs by moving jobs overseas in order to sell to the giant retailer. For others, it provides thousands of people jobs they might not otherwise have, it keeps products affordable and forces manufacturers to keep prices low.

Wal-Mart can't win, it seems. The retailer landed in hot water again for a commercial it has been running, which shows that Wal-Mart saves consumers $2,500. 

Yesterday, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus criticized Wal-Mart for television and print ads that showed families taking a vacation or buying a car. NAD said that the ads implied that by shopping at Wal-Mart, consumers could save enough to buy something big. 

But it turns out that whether or not you shop at Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart saves you money. How's that?

Well, Wal-Mart's growth and power has led to a 3 percent decline in overall consumer prices, which averages out to $2.500 per household. NAD advised Wal-Mart to stop using misleading advertising, but accepted Wal-Mart's claim that its efficiency and size drive down consumer prices across the entire economy.

Continue reading "Shop Wal-Mart or not, save $2,500" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Marketing/Advertising, Shopping
        

Ever wonder how Google manages to make lots and lots of money while not charging for searches?

It's all part of an economic philosophy that started more than 100 years ago with the marketing of disposable razor blades, according to this article on the economics of free in Wired magazine.

King Gillette got people to try his new product by giving away samples of razors to everyone --- new bank customers, for example. How did he make his fortune? By selling the blades themselves.

But these days, writer Curt Anderson says companies make money by giving away even more of their products. DVRs, cell phones, even directory assistance and air travel can all be yours for the low low price of nothing -- if you listen to some advertising, sign up for a two-year contract for digital cable or pay a fee to check a bag. Premium versions of software bankroll basic versions offered for free.

Others argue that price tags don't reflect true costs. 

Continue reading "Free stuff" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Marketing/Advertising, Shopping
        

Like the classic question "paper or plastic?," "credit or debit?" has entered our cultural lexicon, occupying a space at the end of every transaction that is powered by a card. But the folks at Consumer Reports suggest you think hard before you answer. 

According to this research, more people prefer debit when shopping at the grocery store --- especially when  entering a PIN, as opposed to signing a receipt. 

That's good, even though banks want you to choose debit, specifically the signature option. CR says some banks charge their customers for paying with a debit card and entering a PIN. Others offer incentives for signatures, such as frequent flyer miles and other benefits similar to credit cards.

That's because banks bill retailers more for the transaction when you sign rather than punch in the number, in exchange for the electronic magic that goes on behind the scenes.

Debit helps banks make money in other ways as well.

Continue reading "Debit costs you more than credit" »

Posted by Liz Kay at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Are you guilty of buying name-brand products because you're convinced they perform, taste, or do whatever better than their generic equivalents?

I am SO guilty of this, it's ridiculous. From dishwashing sponges to cereal, I've somehow convinced myself that paying more means I'm getting something better for my money.

I've been breaking myself of this habit by slowly introducing my cupboard to store-brand canned vegetables, pasta and such, but after reading this story, I'm going to redouble my efforts.

Apparently, scientists were able to demonstrate for the first time how marketing tactics --such as raising the price of a product -- can cause the brain to play tricks on itself, according to a study which was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers tested this hypothesis by monitoring the brain responses of human volunteers with an MRI while they tasted wines that, contrary to reality, they believed to be different and sold at different prices.

The study showed that increasing the price of a wine also "increases subjective reports of flavor pleasantness as well as blood-oxygen-level-dependent activity in medial orbitofrontal cortex, an area that is widely thought to encode for experienced pleasantness during experiential tasks."

Continue reading "Are you easily influenced consumers?" »

Posted by Dan Thanh Dang at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Marketing/Advertising, Shopping