A couple of years ago, my college radio station approached a local chain store about a small ($500) grant for a festival we were having. We got turned down. Now, I understand that it was a business decision and they weren’t obligated to do anything for us. But the company treated us so badly in the process that I won’t shop there at all, and there’s an informal agreement not to spend station money there, either.
(Full disclosure: Airman’s uncle is the CEO of the company, so I’m sure there were family politics involved in the decision.)
From what I’ve heard, Nestle convinced women in third-world nations that breast milk was unhealthy for their babies. If they wanted fat, healthy babies like Americans have, they should use Nestle’s formula. The water in these areas was often heavily contaminated, and when the mosthers fed the babies formula mixed with it, the babies sickened and died in droves.
GAA! Another owner-in-the-commercial boob.
Great one, SHAKES.
What drives me crazy about him is the “head bob”. He can’t speak without the goofy “better ingredients (head bob), better pizza (head bob), Papa John’s (final head bob, smarmy smile)” Patent pending, I’m sure.
I liked that pizza too (if memory serves), but he’ll never get another one of my dollars.
Clearly, I’m limiting my life. But hey, there are always alternatives.
Fruitopia. Years ago when I was in NYC, they were the first company I saw that filled all the advertising space in a train car with their ads. I know it’s commonplace now but I was so offended at the time that I swore to never purchase or drink a Fruitopia. Empty threat as I never drink that kind of beverage anyway, but still!!
D.O.C. – Richard Golden, the dancing eyeglasses guy, and now pitchman for his laser surgery centers, just comes off like the world’s biggest smarmy asshole.
Similarly, Dennis Chaikin’s Direct Optical, which purports itself to be everything that most eyeglass chain stores aren’t, but ends up being exactly like them anyhow.
I can, however, understand someone refusing to sell you a supreme pizza without the supreme toppings for the coupon price. They probably have a stack of those pizzas set up beforehand, and that’s how they can offer them at low prices for the coupon. By asking them to take off toppings, you’re asking them to do extra work, harldy saving them money, and costing them extra time on your pizza, not something you want to do during dinner rush at a pizza place.
Quizno’s, on account of the “raised by wolves” television commercial.
I’m torn on Coors. Some of its commercials that really degraded women (and mysteriously left the air when Pete was running for a U.S. Senate seat) completely turned me off, but it’s a very progressive company in other respects.
I agree about hating the ad campaigns of Quiznos, Jimmy John’s, and Chick fil-A’s rampant religious bs, but all three of those have mouthwateringly awesome food. I just can’t bring myself to boycot them.
In Indy, it’s Andy Mohr Ford that I hate. I’m not in the market for a car, but if I was I’d avoid that place like the plague.
ADT Home Security: About 12 years ago, a woman on my street (townhouses) was raped as she arrived home late at night. Someone grabbed her outside her front door, dragged her behind the house, and raped her. A home security system would not have helped her because SHE WASN’T INSIDE HER HOUSE WHEN IT HAPPENED.
Yet, as soon as this hit the police reports, ADT sent flyer-stuffers to shove ADT advertising pamphlets in the front doors of every house on the street.
And two days later they did it again.
And two days later they did it again.
Yes - preying on fears, pushing a service that WOULD NOT HAVE HELPED. Repeatedly. This occurred about the same time that a woman in a nearby county was raped in a home invasion, where a security system might have helped… and in fact she received a call from someone trying to sell her such a system a few days later. Turns out, she recognized that person’s voice as that of the rapist and they caught the fool! I’m mostly sure that wasn’t the case with ADT but still…
Anyway, I will never use ADT’s services because of their offensive, repetitive flyer-stuffing.
It’s still easy to ignore their product, however. “Perrier and Hops” with the flavor removed does not inspire this beer drinker. (Maybe they should use their corporate culture to inspire a brewer to add flavor to the product?)
That about covers it. Generally, I tend to be pro-business, and I don’t have too much of a problem with marketing formula in a place like the US, where there are watchdogs who make sure that blatant lies are not used in the ads, and there are plenty of other sources of information available to people so they can decide what they want to do. But to tell blatant lies in developing countries where people do not have access to other information sources and good medical care is completely despicable.
Every single ambulance-chasing lawyer that advertises on TV. The slime that advertise, trying to find people for a class-action suit, and then walk off with over 50% of the settlement.
I never heard that Nestle story (at least I don’t recall it), but if that wiki article is accurate, that’s just wrong. No more Nestle’s Quick for me.
I’ll mention my last commercial/owner hatred. Dr. Neil Clark Warren, eHarmony. Every time I see that guy I want to throw a brick through my television. I don’t have any objection to internet dating, but how could anyone use his site? And those boneheads that found their “soul mates”? Let’s have some follow-ups on how many people are divorced from that site!
[side story]
For the record, my hatred has nothing to do with being rejected from that site. As a joke one night (I’m married, and my wife was watching), I logged on and filled out that “survey”. The first page, I just went straight down the middle without reading the questions. I think there were 7 choices. Anyway, all of my answers were “4”. I hit <submit> and get a warning from the eHarmony software. To paraphrase: “You are not taking this survey seriously. You have answered the questions too fast, which indicates that you are not reading the questions closely (true enough!). In order to find your perfect match, please go back and re-read the questions and answer honestly.” (or something to that effect).
uh… yeah. I hit <submit> again, and they took the first page. Then, I just went through the rest of this “survey” as fast as I could, selecting random answers. I stopped to read a few of the questions. Now seriously, who answers these questions honestly? “I often start projects and never finish them.” STRONGLY AGREE! Just what I would want, a lazy, non-committing soulmate! :rolleyes:
Anyhoo… I get through this thing (which took between 30-40 minutes of NOT READING), and then get rejected. The nerve! My wife continues to get mileage out of this, so it wasn’t all bad. :dubious:
No offense to any eHarmony customers. If it worked for you, that’s fine. Neil Clark Warren? He needs an atomic wedgie.
[/side story]
In the Chicago area there is a dairy named Oberweiss. They do home delivery of milk, and have a few ice cream shops. The Dinsdale clan are pretty committed ice cream fans, and Oberweiss products filled a recurring slot in out freezer rotation.
An election or 2 ago the owner decided to run for political office - might have been senator. He positioned himself as the far right candidate in the Republican primary.
