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  • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31 2007 4:00 PM

Congratulations, You're the Biggest International Corporate Assholes

Submitted by Rahodeb

Edited by erin_broadley



Consumers International revealed the winners of its International Bad Product Awards this week, and recipients included Coca Cola, Kellog's, Mattel, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. My two favorites are Coke and Takeda. Let's start with the drugs. In case you're not familiar, Takeda Pharmaceuticals manufactures the sleeping pill Rozerem. Most likely you've seen their televised advertisements, which feature a sleep-deprived dude chatting with Abe Lincoln and a beaver in his kitchen.



Apparently Takeda ran a different ad last year, which was accused of marketing the sleep aid to children.

The ad says: “Rozerem would like to remind you that it’s back to school season.” Then you see pictures of chalk boards, school books, a school bus, and kids with backpacks. And the ad suggests asking “your doctor if Rozerem is right for you.” The tagline: ‘Back To School.’

There’s just one problem: Rozerem was never approved for kids.

Accused of advertising that was "one step removed from dealing drugs near a school," Takeda pulled the ad after receiving a letter from the FDA warning them to "cease the dissemination of promotional materials for the drug featuring school children."

They also had to scrap an ad they had slated which featured a mother asking her elementary-aged children if they had brushed their teeth, washed their faces, and taken their pills. Back to the beaver, I guess.

Next up is Coca Cola, specifically for their marketing of Dasani bottled water. Bottled water is one of my favorite scams ever. By favorite, I mean most hated, and by scam, I mean you're a sucker if you buy and drink it. Dasani is way up there at the heights of said bottled water scaminess.

See, while they may market it as "pure," it's really just tap water. From local reservoirs.

Another award went to drinks giant Coca-Cola for pushing marketing "into the realms of the ridiculous" in the United States and South America with its Dasani bottled water which is sourced from the same reservoirs as local tap water.

Uh, yeah. Congratulations, Takeda and Coke. You're two of this years biggest corporate a-holes.



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Tallboy66

Tallboy66

Chicago, IL
January 2005

NOV 01, 2007 11:15 PM

DevilsReject said:

Tallboy66 said:




Holden_Caulfield said:


I drink tap water here as well as bottled water. Ann Arbor even has a program to recycle water bottles, so I do not feel the least bit guilty about drinking it.



The thing is being from the Great Lakes area (THE LARGEST FRESH WATER BODIES IN THE WORLD) it's silly to drink bottled tap, (filtered) water, lets try keeping the lakes clean enough to drink.
Now I got sucked into the whole energy/vitamin water thing but at least that has taste and It's slightly better for you than pop.



if you even lived near the lakes and heard half the horror stories about what is in the lakes, you'd be weary of even being near the lake, let alone drink the water.

Around Cleveland they shut beaches down because "the lake is too polluted to swim in".

Not exactly something i want to drink.

We have a water filter on our fridge, so the ice and the water feed are filtered.

the main tap we drink out of has a britanic filtration system on it.



I know Lake Michigan and Lake St' Clair have been closed.
The Illinois river has a big sign on it saying that during periods of heavy rainfall RAW SEWAGE is dumped into it and you need to avoid contact.

Tallboy66

Tallboy66

Chicago, IL
January 2005

NOV 01, 2007 11:19 PM

Also I think I saw a portable Brita type filter you can put on a water bottle so you can put tap water in it from a drinking fountain or sink.

ki1

ki1

Ireland
September 2007

NOV 02, 2007 04:19 AM

ahcoldpizza said:

ki1 said:
jesus. most of you are looking down your noses at people who buy bottled water. as i'm sipping from my cold bottle of ballygowan, i'm going to tell you why i drink bottled water. the irish government puts chemicals in out tap water. and i dont want to drink water with added shit in it. fluoride. i can get in my toothpaste. ireland is the only country in europe where that craps put into the water system by law. so boo hoo. i will still be drinking bottled water. (but i recycle the plastic).



I actually read an article in the magasine Maisonneuve lately looking at fluoride in municipal water supplies. About how people used to think it was a mind-control conspiracy and a poison and what not. Some lobby groups against it still exist actually.

And it is a poison. Everything in a high enough dose is a poison. But the amount that we put in our tap water isn't enough to be toxic to us humans.

But the amount we put in our tap water IS enough to prevent oral decay. The few cities in North America that don't put fluoride in their water actually have some of the highest rates of oral disease, and those that do have low rates. I don't know the stats on Ireland but I suspect the coorelation exists there too.

The improved oral health also leads to improved general health too. So, it's a no-brainer of a trade-off, I think. Slightly fluoridesque water for better general health of the population.



but it should be my choice, not theirs. most toothpastes have flouride included. and a recent study of urine samples found an overdose of flouride in the said pee. nasty.

SaRawr

SaRawr

I'm lost
May 2007

NOV 02, 2007 02:09 PM

Not that I drink bottled water all that often, but I've never liked Dasani. I guess now I know why. I hate my own tap water too. Brita filter for me.

Cigarette

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH
April 2004

NOV 27, 2007 06:46 PM

DevilsReject said:
if you even lived near the lakes and heard half the horror stories about what is in the lakes, you'd be weary of even being near the lake, let alone drink the water.

Around Cleveland they shut beaches down because "the lake is too polluted to swim in".

Not exactly something i want to drink.

We have a water filter on our fridge, so the ice and the water feed are filtered.

the main tap we drink out of has a britanic filtration system on it.



Cleveland water is fine. It's Chardon water that will kill you. Tastes like farts. Same with Ashland water. I felt dirtier after I took a shower.

Jenamaria

Jenamaria

I'm lost
November 2007

NOV 30, 2007 01:10 AM

Haha, thats hilarious because everyone talks about Dasani like it's way better than all other tap water, and you're a fruitcake if you drink anything lesser. But I think pretty much all water has a nasty story- my man used to work for aqua clear bottlers (they make those 18L things for offices and stuff, purified) and he says they barely sanitize the bottles, and they consistantly drop the "sanitized mixed drink ice" on the ground, rinse it off and re-bag it.

We might as well just give up, all the water on this planet is nasty and it's all our fault.

NewSpectre

NewSpectre

Baltimore, MD
March 2005

NOV 30, 2007 01:20 AM



Next up is Coca Cola, specifically for their marketing of Dasani bottled water. Bottled water is one of my favorite scams ever. By favorite, I mean most hated, and by scam, I mean you're a sucker if you buy and drink it. Dasani is way up there at the heights of said bottled water scaminess.



You must live somewhere with good tap water. When I lived in Little Rock I never drank bottled water. Now that I live in england I drink nothing but. The water here is fucking terrible.

MrCrisp

MrCrisp

I'm lost
August 2004

NOV 30, 2007 01:47 AM

SpectreInTheUK said:


Next up is Coca Cola, specifically for their marketing of Dasani bottled water. Bottled water is one of my favorite scams ever. By favorite, I mean most hated, and by scam, I mean you're a sucker if you buy and drink it. Dasani is way up there at the heights of said bottled water scaminess.



You must live somewhere with good tap water. When I lived in Little Rock I never drank bottled water. Now that I live in england I drink nothing but. The water here is fucking terrible.



yeah, and i hear that the tap water in mexico is amazing. biggrin

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