Makes me sad to realize we live in a world where everything
we buy at the store or commercial on T.V. has to have some sort of disclaimer or
warning label attached to it somehow. I
guess it’s just a sign of the times now, and businesses and advertisers have
become so scared of being sued that everything has to be spelled out for us in
an epic C-Y-A fashion. OK, I can see
some warning labels are good, when they make sense. When dealing with things like over the
counter medicines, it’s good to know what side effects to watch out for. I get the reason for well thought out and
detailed user manuals too, especially when buying things like say…a chainsaw. Never used one before? Read the whole manual before using! Good Idea! The logic though seems to take
somewhat of a left turn when reason turns to disclaimers and warning labels on
things that I used to believe didn’t really need them. My bottle of hand sanitizer on my desk
mentions a good thing to watch out for.
It says on the label…”do not apply to eyes”. Really? I thought that keeping something containing
62% ethyl alcohol out of your eyes (and other sensitive areas) was kind of a good
plan anyway…who knew? I recently bought
a bottle of “domestically sourced” water and a few other items at the grocery
store the other day. And on the bag that
I brought it all home in, I found my favorite warning label to date. It read…”This bag is NOT a toy!” Wow! I
know economic times are tough right now in America, but when did we start
giving our little children plastic bags to play with? But before you say, “children will just grab
the bag and start playing with it.”
True, but since the baby couldn’t read the warning, this means it was
put on there for the parents to read. And
if you’re a parent and don’t already have this working knowledge…well hopefully
you get the idea. And just for transparency
purposes, like most kids, I had a cardboard box as a toy for a while, but
luckily I knew enough even then how not to get hurt by it! And on and on it goes. But these are mild compared to the
disclaimers you see on television. Have you seen a car commercial
recently? Every single car ad has
one. Especially if in the commercial someone
is actually driving the car. They all
say the same thing…”professional driver on closed course,” unless they are
driving wildly, then they have to add…”do not attempt” to it. But probably the dumbest one I have seen was
for a certain small car manufacturer that shows the car driving off a cliff
then it takes off in the air and then lands in the ocean below and continues driving
into the water. The disclaimer actually says something to the effect of…”cars
can’t really fly, do not attempt, blah blah…”
It’s about this point in the conversation where even I can’t believe
that we live in a world where this is so necessary. Are we really going to drive off a cliff
thinking the car can fly or be driven underwater? Do we really care that the person you see endorsing
a prescription medicine is an actor? Of course we only know this because the
disclaimer on the bottom of the t.v. screen reads (actor portrayal). Are we really upset if we walk into a
McDonalds just to find out that it may be “independently operated” and that
there’s a chance that “the prices may vary”? Probably not. I also would like to
believe that by this point we all know that when we buy some sort of mechanical
or electronic device that requires batteries, that there is a good chance that
we are going to have to buy them ourselves! But just in case we don’t already know
this, luckily the manufacturer warns us with the words; (and let’s all say it
all together)… “batteries not included!”
Thanks for reading.
I’ll see you in the groves.
Tony
