Skip to main content

Warning Labels

Anything and everything is dangerous.  In excess.  Or in case of cyanide even in extremely small doses.

Consumer culture tends to even out the risk reward ratio of each item it consumes with or without labels.

Yet in the litigious world we live in the makers and purveyors of all treats have to disclose or warn their consumer of the inherent flaw in their product(s).

So with that in mind some special minds come up with nonsense that appears on packaging of the product - not the product itself  -

  • Please drink responsibly (oxymoron)
  • Smoking is injurious to health (whose)
  • Plastic bags - this is not a toy (tell that to the kid)
  • Plastic bags - choking hazard (is the parent drinking?)
  • May cause drowsiness (so?)
  • May generate feelings of suicide (just what the doc ordered)
  • May lead to irregular heartbeat (what if it was beating like that before)
Yet more people die from obesity related illnesses caused by variety of factors including diets containing saturated fats or sugars and texting while driving.  


Comments

  1. RajendraSeptember 7, 2016 at 3:36 PM

    Selfies driving you over the cliff is a new way to die.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diamond HeadSeptember 8, 2016 at 4:32 PM

    new product idea - smart phones for communing with the living - for the dead

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more