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Earlier this year, Wendy's, the fast-food restaurant chain beloved by many for its edgy social media presence, angered virtually the entire online world after news broke that it was considering charging different prices at different parts of the day—a tactic associated with airlines and ridesharing apps.
Immediately, negative headlines and hashtags calling to boycott the company rose to the top of people's feeds. Wendy's then went on the defensive and released a statement, saying it never intended to charge customers more at times of peak demand—on the contrary, it planned to lower them when store traffic was low.
Intrigued by this PR disaster, Reddit user Lushsweet made a post on the platform, asking everyone to list other prime examples of public backlash. And folks delivered! Here are some of the most memorable entries from the discussion with thousands of comments.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Papa John's complaining that he would have to add 10 cents to the price of a pizza if he were forced to provide healthcare to his full-time employees.
People were disgusted, sales tanked, stock tanked.
This was only one of a series of bone headed, tone def, racist, and ignorant statements by the CEO. The guy just couldn't shut up.
John Schnatter was removed as CEO.
Many customers never returned.
James016 1 year ago
A whole 10c. I think people would have been OK with that knowing it was providing staff with healthcare
Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago
That's not the point. They were trying to make customers pay for it instead of making a little less profit. Greed 101
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Ace 1 year ago
Trouble is that the problem is inherent to the American Fast Food industry. Same with tipping. A business, any business, should be forced, by law if necessary, to pay their staff a living wage, including benefits, without resorting to tipping. Then again, the American healthcare system where huge numbers of people are denied basic healthcare if they don't have a job...
Aaron Parker 1 year ago
The pizza there is disgusting anyway. Even for a big pizza chain it's bottom of the group
Bob Brooce 1 year ago
Never been to a Papa John's and that's never going to change. Same for Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby.
TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago (edited)
We don't have that chain here in Germany, but I want to point out the irony that his family name translates to "talking about unimportant things" in german (schnattern)
ColdSteelRonin 1 year ago
I'd have been good with it going up $1.00 if they went with a good provider and plan. Don't think I've gotten a pizza from them for at least 8 years.
We got in touch with Lushsweet, and the Redditor mentioned that they got the idea for the post when Wendy's was facing significant backlash over announcing their surge pricing.
"I just thought this definitely hasn't been the first time that a company made an announcement and tried to backtrack on some new policy/product/etc.," they told Bored Panda.
"Another that came to mind was when IHOP announced that instead of sticking with what has made them well-known for years, they were transitioning into burgers. It backfired so badly that we haven't heard about an IHOP burger since. And clearly, there have been many more examples of this, as seen in the post, and it was all really interesting to read about."
RELATED:
#2
Apple slowing down iPhone 7s so people would buy the iPhone 10. They said it was to protect people’s batteries from failing prematurely or some nonsense. Another example of a company just trying to protect you and save you money! They didn’t really “take it back” but everyone kind of knew what was happening and a lot of people lost trust in Apple.
Chihuahua Mama 1 year ago (edited)
Why people still continue to use those awful, overpriced phones, I'll never understand (edit: I know I'll get downvoted but oh well)
Lace Neil 1 year ago
Take my upvote. I will continue to stick with my Samsung.
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ggus44 1 year ago
And removingg earphones jack because "iT's tHe FuTuRe"? And not including chargers anymore because "PeOpLe aLrEaDy HaVE OnE"? They may tell us a good reason, but it's all about saving their money!
Lew k 1 year ago
I switched both my personal and work phone to Apple because of privacy concerns with Samsung/Google. Couldn't wait to switch back. Apple products are inferior in every way. Both phones crashed apps so often it was basically unusable. Got told by Apple support that I just needed to upgrade to the top end version to resolve. So.... I can't use a browser on my smart phone unless I buy the pro plus? Never had that issue with an android based phone.
Diana Lucas 1 year ago
We stopped using the IPhone because the Android Galaxy phones looked and worked better. When we switched, Apple tried to prevent my husband from downloading his chat messages and contacts from his old phone by claiming they were proprietary and belonged to Apple! Never buying an Apple phone again.
Sharkbait1313 1 year ago
Can't stand Apple products! All 3 of my kids have iPhone and iPad and I can't even tell you how many times I have reset the password and have had unknown charges to my bank account. I know many people will think it's from my kids using in app purchases but I turned that option off and I still get charges that won't show under my purchase history. So I have to call them and have them reversed and wait 3-5 days to get them back into my account.
Sapna Sarfare 1 year ago
Never had an apple product nor do i wish to. but the issue is these day many companies are creating products to last on a lower rate. Have a Dell laptop which i have for 14 years.. while it is now on its last stage, i am scared to purchase a new laptop because of the lasting issue and also exhorbitant pricing
#3
Cadbury announced they were going to change their formula to include palm oil in their chocolate manufacturing process, and there was a huge uproar. Lots of people boycotted them or threatened to boycott them if palm oil was used as it's incredibly environmentally damaging. Cadbury's walked it back shortly after and never mentioned switching the formula again.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Still haven't backed down on using cr@ppier chocolate for any product not explicitly listed under "dairy milk" in spite of the ongoing backlash. Creme Eggs are vile now.
Libstak 1 year ago
They are sneaking the palm oil in incrementally, hoping our taste buds will adjust.....nope, I can taste it and am happy to go for other brands whenever I get the choice now.
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Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 year ago
How anyone thought American ownership of a chocolate company would end well is beyond me.
Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 1 year ago
They still have palm oil in all their chocolate in UK. There is no such thing as 'sustainable palm oil' - it's just green washing of a massively destructive industry. (Source: The Green Lie documentary)
PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago
I miss it, how vote me all you want, but the chocolate was so much better pre 2000, that Cadbury smell was something else
James016 1 year ago
When Kraft/Mondelez bought Cadbury they made a number of promises regarding production. They broke all of them
Tiggy Darling 1 year ago
They promised production for many lines would stay in the UK. I believe that lasted four days before they announced they were moving overseas. I avoid it now where possible.
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Cee Cee 1 year ago
Yes. Not sure most Americans know what decent chocolate tastes like.
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StumblingThroughLife 1 year ago (edited)
Still gutted that Cadbury's (origin England, UK) sold to the USA. The chocolate is nasty now since the ingredients were changed. I stock up on CHOKLAD LJUS (milk) Chocolate every time I go to Ikea. Delicious, & Rainforest Alliance Certified.
Becky Samuel 1 year ago
Tony's Chocoloney is a very ethical brand that is widely available in supermarkets and comes in a lot of different flavors.
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Miliukov Oleksandr 1 year ago
they never mention switching the formula again... but what they were actually doing?
Shark Lady 1 year ago
I stopped buying Cadbury's products after the new owners promised there wouldn't be any job cuts and production would stay where it was. Once they signed the deal, they closed a factory and moved production overseas.
However, while some people see these as calls for accountability, others view them as censorship and punishment. We've always challenged each other's views throughout history, but the internet—especially social media—has changed how, when, and where these interactions happen. Now, a huge number of people can go online and call out others for their behavior or words, and it's easier than ever to rally groups to join in.
"I do feel that social media has definitely empowered people to speak up more," Lushsweet said. "News can spread like wildfire now... [and] a tweet can make or break a company, person, or idea. All it takes is one viral tweet, reel, or TikTok for everyone to get the message and for [explosive discourse] to follow."
#4
Adidas burned up like a billion dollars worth of products because Kanye West doesn’t like Jews.
Maggz Bennett 1 year ago
You've got a typo there, it's not "doesn't like Jews" it should be spelled "is an antisemitic bum hole".
Charles McChristy 1 year ago
A billion dollars of product that took less than $100,000 to make, lmao
Oerff On Tour 1 year ago
A good example of principles over profits. Germans hate antisemitism with a vengeance. And Adidas is German
#5
Back in the '70s, the Kentucky river flooded in the Appalachian region around Harlan, KY. The area is full of dirt-poor people, and huge numbers of people lost everything from flooding.
Hill's Department stores was a regional chain of variety stores (like Walmart). They had a store in the area which flooded. So, what do with all of the store's water-damaged stock? They decided to put it all on trucks, ship it to Lexington, and hold a tent sale to get rid of it. They ran ads announcing the sale, saying "our loss is your gain".
Well, the public told them pretty quickly what they _should_ have done with the damaged stock. Pretty quickly they cancelled the sale, shipped everything back to Harlan, and donated it to the relief effort.
Wang Zhuang 1 year ago
At first I thought the sign said "Chills", which is a much cooler name, both literally and figuratively.
Lavern Defazio 1 year ago
Probably at a loss considering shipping product costs money as well. Deserved for being greedy. Man, I'm cranky today . I could let loose on this all day. Who needs a therapist when we have BP?
Roni Stone 1 year ago
Grew up near Harlan. Left before this happened, but it was devastating event.
The Pew Research Center found that 58% of U.S. adults say calling out others on social media is more likely to hold people accountable, while 38% say it is more likely to punish people who don’t deserve it.
One in five Americans who see this type of behavior as a form of accountability point to reasons that relate to how helpful calling out others can be. For instance, some explained in an open-ended question that they associate this behavior with moving toward a better society or educating others on their mistakes so they can do better in the future.
However, a third (35%) of those who see calling out other people on social media as a form of unjust punishment cite reasons that relate to people who call out others being rash or judgmental. Some of these Americans see this kind of behavior as overreacting or unnecessarily lashing out at others without considering the context or intentions of the original poster. Others emphasize that what is considered offensive can be subjective.
#6
The "pasty tax".
In the UK the government tried to introduce higher taxes on hot food from bakeries like sausage rolls, Cornish pasties etc. and the country basically rioted until the govt u-turned.
There were protests outside downing street and smear campaigns against food companies seen to be complicit. It was a wild time but quite a proud moment for the country when it was reversed.
Imagine what we could do if we cared this much about other issues!
ChimeraBubbles 1 year ago
Fun fact: the pural of pasty is pasties. Pasty as in past and not paste. :)
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JK 1 year ago (edited)
But there is higher tax on hot foods in the UK. Uncooked foods are sold as zero rated (meaning no VAT payable), hot/cooked foods are subject to standard VAT (20%). So no, the government didn't U turn on this, it is totally still in force, the only difference was during covid that lowered VAT payable by catering/food/hospitality companies on sales (this did *not* often make it's way to the consumer). Sorry, but the UK government are still screwing you over at 20% tax on your pasty/Sausage roll/steak bake
Mark Fuller 1 year ago
Is this strictly correct? I heard that one of the reasons Gregg's (UKs largest bakery chain) don't have heated cabinets for their baked goods is because that would indeed mean the goods are considered to be "hot", incurring tax and forcing them to charge more. By allowing the freshly baked goods to cool in the display cabinet, they circumnavigate the problem. It just leaves us customers with the issue of being unsure if you'll get delicious piping hot goods, or something a bit cold and unfulfilling.
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IamMe 1 year ago
Is this like the meals tax, we have in the U.S.? Where if you order a sandwich at a deli, there is no tax, but if you ask for that same sandwich toasted, boom, meals tax?
Steven 1 year ago
Not a "U.S." thing. I think you're talking about sales tax on prepared food versus groceries but some places, like Oregon, have no sales tax on anything at all. Sales taxes are always levied at the state, county, and municipal level and groceries are exempt in some places but not in others.
Load More Replies... Wintermute 1 year ago
"Imagine what we could do if we cared this much about other issues!" Just thought that needed said again.
Uncle Schmickle 1 year ago
Yeah, it's about time " we the people " stood up to Governments. We put them there and we can remove them too. It's called democracy.
LinkTheHylian 1 year ago
No decent meat-eating Brit will turn down a pasty. One for lunch, with fish and chips or a Sunday roast for tea means you've had a good day.
#7
In 2014, Apple automatically added U2's new Songs of Innocence album to the libraries of every iTunes customer for free -- more than 500 million customers. If you had an auto-downloads enabled on your iTunes, the album was automatically downloaded to your devices.
People hated this. As a result, Apple created a webpage dedicated to deleting the album from people's accounts.
Funhog 1 year ago
Yay! Mystery solved! This album had suddenly appeared in my music a few years ago. Wow. All this time I've thought that I had purchased this U2 album and whenever one of these songs played on my shuffle (I can't seem to remove them), I had gotten down on myself thinking that: 1. I'd somehow blacked out and made this purchase; and, 2. I was really questioning Hyde-Funhog's taste in music because it is a really bad album. (I do, however, really like U2's Achtung Baby album).
Anna Drever 1 year ago
It’s still sitting in my playlist because I couldn’t be bothered deleting it, but I’ve never played it. Not once.
BS Detector 1 year ago
I wish I had known about this -> "Apple created a webpage dedicated to deleting the album from people's accounts"
yellowphantom 1 year ago
My phone still randomly switches from Pandora to one of the U2 songs while I'm driving.
But in the end, Lushsweet believes that it's all for the greater good. "The internet is basically made up of people. It's the people posting, creating, interacting, and reacting that make it what it is. I'd rather have the internet available for us to gather information, gain knowledge, and have conversations than not have it," the author of the viral post explained.
"Of course, there are people who misuse it, and with new technologies like deep fakes and AI, it's becoming harder for some to tell what's real and what's fake. But, just like in society, there are people doing harmful things with the internet, and there are people using it to drive real change."
#8
JCPenney tried a whole tactic of "We won't have any sales or coupons anymore, our prices will just always be low". Instead, sales tanked, the stock prices dropped into single digits, stores ended up closed left and right, and JCPenney barely exists anymore.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
An object lesson that buyers do not act rationally. The prices didn’t change. They just stopped pretending that they were “marked down”. Turns out their customers wanted to be tricked into thinking they were getting a better deal.
The Phantom Stranger 1 year ago
Studies have shown that if you sell two identical items, one saying "Everyday Low Price $7.50", and the other as "Original Price $10--on sale 25% Off. Now $7.50!" people will buy the "On Sale" item.🤦♂️
Zoe Vokes 1 year ago
I can’t resist a sale. I must urgently buy it now before the price goes back up. I’m a smart person but it’s a compulsion. I comfort spend to cheer myself up.
Load More Replies... CrazyKnitter 1 year ago
This was always insane to me. I'd rather have the actual price for things instead of "SALES" pricing.
Melissa Moreno 1 year ago
I worked at JCP during the transition to this pricing model as well as the transition out of this pricing model. The customer was 100% receiving better value when the prices were marked down and the coupons and sales removed. Once they brought back sales and coupons guess what happened? We spent hours and weeks pricing things up 50-100% just so we could put it on sale for 25% off and let the customer use their $10 off $25 coupon. Sales like Buy 1 Get One 50% off would perform significantly better that a 30% off sale. What I learned from my many years in retail is consumers are idiots and have no basic grasp on calculating percentages.
Jane 1 year ago
the JC Penny I used to shop at (years ago) was so strange. The price tags never reflected what you'd actually pay at the register. This top has a tag that says $20... register says $7.50... there were never any sale signs to indicate if stuff was on sale, so it was always a pleasant surprise at the register. I think 80% of the stuff we purchased was less expensive than the tag indicated. It meant we started going to those price check scanners to see what every item was priced at.
yellowphantom 1 year ago
They all shop at Kohls now where they make up a really high " retail" price and then list their "sale" price above the rack.
#9
Through much of the 20th century, the biggest beer brand in the world was Schlitz. Budweiser was a distant second and gaining ground. Schlitz new CEO, son of the longstanding CEO decided the way to beat Budweiser was to make beer with a shorter brewing time. He ordered the formula changed to corn syrup from malted barley, added a new yeast to cut brewing time. Overnight consumers started complaining that the new beer was flat, cloudy and full of flakes of yeast, which turned off the loyal following. They started recalling the beer which left no beer to sell to the marketplace. Schlitz plunged from the number one brand to obscurity. Anheuser-Busch could not have come up with a better way to sabotage their competitor.
The Scout 1 year ago
Corn syrup? Shortened brewing time? As a German, I feel personally attacked by this. Any beer that really deserves that name is purely made of hop, malt, yeast and water, as stated in the German beer purity statute from 1516...
Andrew Keir 1 year ago
Yay for the German beer purity laws of 1516, but some of us live in countries where they don't actually apply. Though ... corn syrup ... yuck !
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The Other Guest 1 year ago
I don't even like beer and I'm horrified by this. Removing *malted barley* and replacing it with corn syrup, of all things? Sounds like it should be on the "I Didn't Have Eggs" subReddit.
Fat Harry (Oi / You) 1 year ago
How the hell is Budweiser the number one selling beer? It's absolutely tasteless, watery c**p.
Ace 1 year ago
No, Budweiser is not the number one selling beer in the world, nor was Schlitz. The statement may be true for the US but not globally. I think they're confusing the fact that Anheuser-Busch own multiple global brewery brands, so they are, as a corporate entity, the largest, but not all under that brand name.
Load More Replies... Uncle Schmickle 1 year ago
Agree with comment below. I'm an Aussie, but German beer is the best in the world.
Paulina 1 year ago
Schlitz was never "biggest beer brand in the world" - just in USA. Similarly, Budweiser also never was "biggest brand in the world". But it's owner - AB InBev - is the biggest PRODUCER of the beer in the world with about 505,90 millions of hectoliters annually across 42 different brands.
Regina Holt 1 year ago
Corn syrup never makes anything better. But it is being put into so many products now, it is harder to find stuff without it.
WickedLibra70 1 year ago
That was my dad's beer of choice in the 70s, was wondering why I stopped seeing it in the stores
#10
The Internet bullied Paramount into fixing Sonic for the movies.
Corvus 1 year ago
I remember the original design... it was one of those "not sure whether to laugh or cry" things.
ggus44 1 year ago
Yeah but Ugly Sonic made a cameo in Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and it was great 😂
Aaron Parker 1 year ago
Need more info on this I don't know what they're talking about and don't care to Google it
B Jones 1 year ago
The movie model was weirdly tall and long legged and had a weird face I think, they redesign him to look a lot closer to the video games and it does look a lot better.
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Rayne OfSalt 1 year ago
Nah, that was just a very clever marketing campaign. Ugly Sonic was never gonna be in the movie.
Jean Jacket 1 year ago
This was a really good one though. A major studio listening to its customers and making the changes to keep us happy which paid off for them? What a concept.
ronniebeaton00 1 year ago
Back in the mid 90s, Paramount had the bright idea to copyright the name "USS Enterprise", to the point of sending a Cease & Desist to the US Navy. Apparently, after the Chief of Naval Operations had finished laughing, he sent back this incredibly politely worded letter to the effect that there had been a vessel named Enterprise on the rolls of the Navy for far longer than there had been a Paramount Pictures, and to please [expletive] off and not be so [expletive] stupid.
#11
The game engine Unity introduced a per-install runtime fee - meaning anytime someone installed a Unity game you made, Unity would charge you. Details as to how this would be tracked and billed, how multiple installs per user or machine would be handled, how malicious installs would be prevented, how installs from prepaid deals like Gamepass would be counted, were fully absent.
Unity is one of two most popular non -proprietary game engines by far, and favored by smaller devs, who could lose all their profits with this arrangement.This alone outraged the entire game dev community, but the week of shifting explanations and rules changed on the fly really put gas on the fire.
Developers began preparing to move away from Unity, the stock price crashed, massive partners like Microsoft appeared blindsided. In the end, Unity had to retract the policy and create a new one where devs could choose between the runtime fee and a tiered percentage cut (the normal way). And the CEO had to step down. And then the company laid off 25% of their employees (although that was likely due to the same overgrowth that caused them to try the runtime fee in the first place). It was a massive disaster for the company and I would say their reputation has not recovered.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
One thing that greedy people often fail to understand is that is a -lot- easier to tank a reputation than it is to earn it back.
Bartlet for World Domination 1 year ago
"Trust comes on foot and goes on horseback" is a Dutch saying.
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Freddy M. (He/Him) 1 year ago
I'm an indie dev, I mostly use Unity. But, once I finish my current projects in Unity, I'm moving to a new engine. I'm not letting them try to get one over on me again
Nimitz 1 year ago
Yeah, I work in the industry. Everyone was shaking their heads that morning. We all knew that the engine was immediately dead.
Nimitz 1 year ago
And no their reputation won't recover. There are multiple competitors available with similar and even better features available. None of the major companies talk about working with Unity anymore
Load More Replies... David 1 year ago
This one was recent and it was a major shitshow. There were even small studios cancelling entire projects because they had the game mostly finished on Unity and refused to move forward on Unity but didn't want to restart from scratch. (They possibly continued after Unity recanted). I only follow the development side of things loosely but this one was pretty heated.
TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago (edited)
The developers also had a lot of backup from us gamers against this
#12
BMW had plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for heated seats and adaptive cruise control. When you would order the car you could opt to pay for those to be installed or not not. But they would installed them anyway and then you could pay a monthly fee afterwards if you changed your mind.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
They were installed already at the factory. The only thing that happened when you bought the car was that those options were turned on if you “subscribed” to them. It’’s still coming. The only thing that will stop it is buyer protection regulations prohibiting it. Along with “right to repair”, we need a “right to own what you buy” campaign.
Stygtand 1 year ago
Apparently they did keep the subscription service on the cars blinker. Because no bmw owner is using them.
Edith 1 year ago
I had seen one using few days ago, more over it was driving nicely and not speeding at all.. it was like I am in utopia. On the other hand - how is it possible that all bmw drivers all around the world don't use blinkers? Is it like mutual silent agreement when you buy a car? - you swear to the bmw god or whatever to never use it or what?!
Load More Replies... Nimitz 1 year ago
You all might want to look into HP's print subscription service. You have to pay them monthly to use your own printer and ink
Sand Ers 1 year ago
For a deal like that, the printer had better be free. And at that point, you’re just renting a printer.
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Sand Ers 1 year ago
Tesla locking out battery range is even worse. You’re hauling around a couple of hundred extra pounds that serve no use whatsoever.
Load More Replies... Scott Rackley 1 year ago (edited)
I heard they originally were going to charge a subscription for turn signals but realized they wouldn't make any money
Andrew Keir 1 year ago
or, find a good mechanic of your own for after-market 'modifications' ;-)
Sand Ers 1 year ago
And when the car phones home and reports the “theft” to the mothership, which then bricks the car in response?…
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Lewis KR 1 year ago
Let's just hope BMW never make a space station, they'll make people subscribe to oxygen
LinkTheHylian 1 year ago
So will BMW drivers need to provide a password in order to activate the heated seats? Because they can't all use "1maPr1ck123".
#13
At one point when bourbon exploded in popularity (largely due to growth in the SE Asian market), Maker's Mark was faced with not having enough product to meet projected demand, since it takes quite a while to produce. They announced they were going to slightly lower the alcohol percentage of their flagship product to "stretch" the supply. This idea went over like a lead balloon and was crushed almost immediately.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 1 year ago
I actually recall this and I seemingly wrongly assumed it was to do with producing a standard percentage which would then be distributed globally. A friend owns a distillery for whiskey and I know some of their exports are lower percentages because of laws in thay country and IIRC a few countries also had a preference for the slightly lower percent...35% v 40%.
Ace 1 year ago
Yes, 35% is considered the norm for most spirits in Europe and much of the world. Duty Free versions available when flying are usually 40%.
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James Anthony 1 year ago
Any bourbon under 100 proof is like drinking flavored water (for the most part) anyway. Give me that barrel proof, baby!
Strahd Ivarius 1 year ago (edited)
And now that it is Japanese owned, this should not happen again.
#14
In 2010, gaming company Activision-Blizzard (who ran World of Warcraft among other things) proposed to put players' real names on their forum posts. This...did not go well. *At all.* Doxxing of children to make a point was involved.
They did not go through with their (terrible) plan.
This incident is usually referred to as the "Real ID Fiasco" among players who were around at the time.
Corvus 1 year ago
I wish I could say this was the only colossal blunder made by Activision-Blizzard... but it kept getting worse for the next 14 years. This isn't the Blizzard we grew up with.
yo mama's cookie 1 year ago
Bobby ran the company to the ground. Now they are trying to fix it but it will never be the same. I miss the old times.
Load More Replies... Rayne OfSalt 1 year ago
Every problem with ActiBlizz can be summed up with 2 words: Bobby Kotick.
Carmen Honacker 1 year ago
WoW player here. Ever since Activision bought them, Blizzard just sucks. It's not just the company culture (law suits for sexual harassment), laying off their people, etc. but also incompetent people running the game literally into the ground and creating a pretty toxic culture of people. Makes me sad
Guess Undheit 1 year ago
Fakebook planned to do the same, force people to "use real names". Trans people were pi$$ed, women escaping stalkers and abusive ex-es were pi$$ed, among many others.
#15
Pretty much every Australian bullied the snack brand Shapes into reverting back to their original recipe after changing it, so the new one only lasted a few weeks on the shelves. These crackers are a national delicacy and the new flavours genuinely tasted like s**t. Really great to have seen a nation band together for the greater good 👍🏼.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 1 year ago (edited)
I soooooo wish we had these here! I found something pretty close recently but just not the same.
Colleen Glim 1 year ago
Another eejit company deciding to change the recipe to make a bigger profit. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
I remember buying a box of Shapes (I think it was the BBQ ones) after the changeover and wondering what the hell was going on. Went on Product Review and found really intense hatred for the new recipe. Arnotts backtracked and offered both the new version and the original version for a period and then let the new garbage lapse for the most popular items.
PeepPeep the duck 1 year ago
The only that won’t is uncle Toby’s muesli bars apricot yoghurt tops 😭 I miss those too
#16
Microsoft Xbox One was supposed to be always online and removed it after fan backlash.
CrazyKnitter 1 year ago
As someone who's internet can be called "spotty" on a good day, and I am a gamer, this is still really frustrating. Sure the console doesn't have to be "online" all the time, but most games now require an Internet connection and if it's a single person local game, it's just dumb and I can't play it.
Aaron Parker 1 year ago (edited)
Same, and boy is it sure moving in that sad direction 😔
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Nick Curtis 1 year ago
I would have been so pissed, I play PC and I absolutely hate the single-player games that won't let you play if you aren't connected to the internet. sometimes my internet is spotty or out. or I'm on the road and want to play a game without paying for internet. If it is solely for the purpose of reporting scores to the cloud it should be able to sync next time I'm online I should be able to still play the game though
Aaron Parker 1 year ago
Don't forget Microsoft initially charged more for the whole system w/ Kinect at launch. Didn't last very long!
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JayWantsACat 1 year ago
This decision, along with a few other terrible ones, essentially allowed Sony to swoop in and win that console war by a massive margin. My friends and I were all about Xbox up until they revealed this "perk", and the other asinine ones, and we made the switch to Sony/PS4 and have been very happy ever since. MS still hasn't recovered, and likely won't, and seem to know this as there were rumors they were going to leave the console hardware market. I was glad to see such a massive reaction to blatant anti-consumer/gamer decisions by those idiots. And, no, Sony has not been perfect as they somewhat burned their goodwill making similar dumb decisions for the PS5 launch.
#17
Cricut is a brand of cutting machine used for a variety of crafting purposes. It's existed in many incarnations, but current machines utilize proprietary Cricut Design Space software in conjunction with a machine and a variety of blade options and accessories to cut complex shapes out of a wide variety of materials. They are most commonly used in the crafting world for cutting out vinyl to make custom tshirts, tumbler cups, ornaments, et cetera.
Users can purchase a Cricut Design Space premium subscription for $10/month which gives them access to a vast library of premade assets such as fonts, shapes, and predesigned projects. Since the software is reliant on .SVG files, and those can't be created within Cricut Design Space, the subscription works well for non-techie casual crafters who don't know how or don't feel like designing and converting their own SVGs in a separate program. If you are savvy enough to make your own SVGs (or if you buy/download them from other sources) you can import them into Cricut Design Space and use them. You just can't create them within Design Space.
A couple years back, Cricut made the announcement that a paid premium subscription would now be required for all users who want to import more than 10 SVG files into Design Space per month. The majority percentage of Cricut users who create projects to make money were the kind of users who created their own SVGs, and depending on complexity, *ONE* project could require 10 uploads. For all but the most casual users, this was basically Cricut forcing them into a subscription that they didn't need.
On top of all this, Design Space is absolute garbage software. It's buggy as hell, it's designed for simplicity over efficiency, certain functions barely work at all, so on. Since you can't use any other software for Cricut machines, there's no real reason for them to bother to make it good. So they don't.
The backlash was so instant, so intense, and so immense that Cricut walked their decision back very quickly. However, the whole thing caused a giant mistrust for the brand in general (which was already known for extremely overpriced accessories and terrible software) and Cricut's reputation has been damaged in the crafting community ever since.
The Phantom Stranger 1 year ago
The term gets thrown around pretty freely today, but for those who don't understand, this is one of the main characteristics of modern "late-stage capitalism"--in essence, you no longer fully own anything. While you may have purchased the equipment, you are basically "renting" the ability to use it from the company. This is true of streaming and online gaming services, smart appliances, and even most vehicles. Pretty much anything you own that is wi-fi enabled can be remotely disabled by the manufacturer if you violate the terms of service. If you can find it on YouTube or on demand, there is an episode of the show "Adam Ruins Everything" that explains this idea much better than I can in a brief post.
CrazyKnitter 1 year ago
This is exactly the reason why I haven't gotten a Cricut machine. If I do get a cutter like this, which I do want, I'll get a Silhouette or something else. Not Cricut
XanthippeⓐWulf🇨🇦️️🇬🇧 1 year ago
I had a Silhouette, but went to the Cricut Maker because it can cut small projects on wood when we don't want to go through the trouble of using our laser cutter (we make miniatures). I really liked the Silhouette, but it seemed to be really lagging behind in terms of what the machine could do while Cricut was branching out in leaps & bounds. I'd be curious to know if anyone has a Silhouette & if the projects you can use it for has expanded 🤔
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Anna Harding 1 year ago
Yes I own a Cricut but I’m a graphic artist. They wanted to charge us just to use the machine. After we already paid $300+ to buy it.
#18
When the Covid lockdowns started hitting, the city of Denver announced that all liquor stores and [weed] dispenseries would be shuttered for the duration. Hordes of people scrambled to these shops and formed huge lines to stock up.
Two hours later, the city announced that NO, those shops would not be forced to close, that they were deemed essential services.
[https://denverite.com/2021/03/22/looking-back-at-denvers-prohibition-of-2020-a-symbol-of-the-citys-covid-moment/](https://denverite.com/2021/03/22/looking-back-at-denvers-prohibition-of-2020-a-symbol-of-the-citys-covid-moment/).
Aaron Parker 1 year ago (edited)
This is what happens when government tries prohibition. People want their dru gs because life is hard and it's completely understandable to want a release regularly. The government can f**k right off on this matter entirely.
Roni Stone 1 year ago
Also, seriously, what the hell did they think was going to happen? I don't drink and I don't do weed, but even *I* know this was a recipe for an uprising! Try prying coffee and carbs from my cold dead hands and see what happens.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
Evidently, Denver officials all flunked their history classes, or they would’ve know that, when you decide to institute a Prohibition (this is the hint, folks) on a particular item that people like having access to, you are going to have loud public outcry against it, long lines to stock up right before the ban goes into effect, and after it goes into effect, people skirting the ban, making or growing their own supply, or purchasing it illegally from sketchy sources. Maybe they should’ve sat up and listened instead of falling asleep in those classes. History is really useful, people, because a knowledge of it can help you predict the outcome of situations that have the annoying tendency to repeat themselves, and that we never seem to learn from.
Sven Grammersdorf 1 year ago
For alcoholics, liquor is absolutely essential. We could die without it.
Nicola Mawson 1 year ago
South Africa managed to create an entire underground market by banning cigarettes and booze during Covid lock down
R Dennis 1 year ago
If only there was an example of how that type of... prohibition had failed spectacularly.
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Lavern Defazio 1 year ago
When I had COVID, the pain was strange and nothing like I've ever felt before. If it weren't for edibles, I would've suffered that week. Since I couldn't smoke, the edibles were there when I needed them. Thanks Marijuana.
Michael Largey 1 year ago
If you're urging people to stay inside at home, make sure they have all the booze and grass they could want.
Nikole 1 year ago
Awww I think I’ve mentioned this to you before, but my dad is the only person I know IRL who calls it grass <3
Load More Replies... Nick Curtis 1 year ago
Making recreational substances unreachable during a time when you have to remain at home and it is basically one of the few escapes you can have is just cruel. Everyone needs a way to cope and a beer or joint on occasion can be a massive help
Panda Bear 1 year ago
The governor of Wisconsin didn’t shut down liquor stores because he said they were essential services. It led to a lot of jokes about how alcohol is seen as essential in Wisconsin. The reality is that denying an alcoholic alcohol is super dangerous and it could have put even more strain on the already strained hospital system.
Bartlet for World Domination 1 year ago
Heh, same happened to the wеed shops in Amsterdam. I think it lasted two days.
#19
Monster threatened to sue a Vermont microbrewery.
We crashed their website, pulled Monster from the shelves in a good portion of the state, and Bernie Sanders called them stupid.
BrunoVI 1 year ago
Looked in it up. The plaintiffs marketed, "Vermonster." Ben and Jerry's responded by selling "Vermonster" ice cream, which is dissimilar enough, they were way on the safe side.
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David 1 year ago
Energy drinks on the whole are a major scam. The 'energy' is almost always sugar, caffeine, or B vitamins (sometimes some herbs) and most of them taste nasty and are overpriced for what they are. Vitamins, sugar and caffeine are all super cheap for the quantities you get in a can of energy drink.
#20
There was a car rental company that installed speed monitoring devices on their cars and charge you every time you went over the speed limit. I want to say Avis? Didn't last long
Edit: Acme was the name of the company, this was back in 2001. There's a New York Times article about it.
BewilderedBanana 1 year ago (edited)
Must have been that darned coyote doing all the speeding, chasing the roadrunner :)
Andrew Arons 1 year ago
I always rooted for Wile E. Coyote. The Roadrunner was a jerk.
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Apatheist Account2 1 year ago
I never believe that Acme is a real company name...unless they make dynamite or anvils.
Steven 1 year ago
Acme Boots have been around for about 100 years. The word simply means "highest point" or pinnacle.
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Jane Jayne Jain Jeign Jein 1 year ago
Whilst this is commercial suicide for one company, it doesn't seem like a terrible idea if all companies were 'forced' to do this at the same time. (Perhaps include some discretion for occasional overspending which you might have to do to get out of a dangerous situation.) But would only work if the fine was proportional to income - a whole other controversial idea!
Regina Holt 1 year ago
But how would they know you were speeding? Different roadways have different speed limits.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 1 year ago
Ooh I do remember hearing about an insurance company piloting this. Your premium woukd stay low once yiu didn't speed. I actally think that's a great idea.
Becky Samuel 1 year ago
It's awful. There are insurance companies that offer lower premiums based on 'careful driving'. They install a black box in your car that records every moment of your driving and reports back to base. It's a huge data-harvesting jamboree for the insurance companies.
Load More Replies... Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago
Only police can fine you. This was not only stupid but illegal
Load More Replies... #21
Tangential: I think Wendy's branded this horribly. My first though was: well I guess I'll never go to Wendy's since I'll never know what things will cost before I get there. But if they marketed it as 20% off during off peak hours or 30% after 9:30 PM or something I'd probably think of going there if I needed an early or late meal. Actual surge pricing for fast food is dumb, when a school bus of kids show up on a sports or band trip are they going to jack the prices up on all of them? Specific days/times with higher/lower prices seems more viable.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 1 year ago
I know right?! Apparently we need to infer what they tried to do. Sounds like they tried to introduce a new pricing system depending on how busy the store was but I dunno. Im too lazy to Google it and don't care enough since we don't have a Wendy's here!
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Upstaged75 1 year ago
In my area of the country we have express lanes with surge pricing. The more traffic there is, the higher the price to drive in the lane. It's a total rip off. Although there were a few times I used it because I'd rather have been broke than sit in traffic for hours. Thankfully my commute is now 30 seconds from my bed to my desk. :)
Darla Hitchcock 1 year ago
Surge pricing is dumb period, end of story. I boycott companies that surge price.
BrownEyedGrrl 1 year ago
The first time I saw an ad for this horseshit, I thought "What a bunch of horseshitters".
WickedLibra70 1 year ago
Pretty sure that it was proven they never actually said that, someone took what they said about the newer digital menu boards out of context
Salty_Sasquatch 1 year ago
We quit going to Wendy's years ago when every single time we placed a drive-in order something was wrong/missing.
PrettyJoyBird 1 year ago
The only fast food place i know of in numerous different cities and counties that will just be closed without explanation. Maybe a company policy or franchise decision idk.
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#22
Taco Bell discontinued stocking potatoes and the people rioted. .
Přemek Marek 1 year ago
When something is in the store ready to sell, it is "in stock". The process of adding it to the menu, store and having it at all is called "stocking". So "discontinued stocking potatoes" means that they removed many potato-based food items from their menus. The original post is not written well, it is easy to get lost in the wording.
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Schmebulock 1 year ago
I remember those riots. Many people lost their lives, but now every Christmas we have potatoes hung in the kids' stockings thanks to their sacrifice.
Roni Stone 1 year ago
These comments are making me need to pee. Stop, y'all! I'm too old - the humor is willing but the bladder is weak!
David 1 year ago
Reminds me of all of the joyful Christmas mornings seeing the grandkids' faces light up as they found the potatoes in their stockings! /J Seriously though - we did go through a number of years where they each got a can of olives because they liked having their own can to munch on. (they got more traditional stocking stuff as well)
ElfVibratorGlitter 1 year ago
I was pissed. I sub potatoes for meat on most of their items. So good.
Lavern Defazio 1 year ago
No wonder i couldnt fit my foot in there with the potatoes and all. I was so mad I rioted.
#23
Valve announced a plan to charge for mods almost a decade ago.
Internet backlash against this was swift and powerful enough to get them to backtrack.
It was an especially surprising move for a company that the Internet considered "good" (as good as a for-profit corp could be, realistically).
#24
Tesla is now putting normal round steering wheels into model s/x instead of the "yoke" they tried so hard to push onto people for about 2 years.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
You'd think a yoke is what someone who buys a Teslas would want, just for the symbolism alone.
Guess Undheit 1 year ago
That third rate company claimed to "have invented the yoke" to which Formula 1 fans said "Oh really?" and posted hundreds of pictures of F1 cars with yokes. The tesla tossers banned many people from Space Karen's "x" site.
Steven 1 year ago
It even goes back much farther than Formula 1. Many automakers have incorporated them into concept cars since at least the 1950s. It evokes a connection to aviation and how long have we been talking about flying cars?
Load More Replies... Nimitz 1 year ago
I mean, with all the toxic b******t from Elon Musk, why would you buy a Tesla from a bigot when you could buy an electric vehicle made by fairly paid auto-union workers? And Tesla's safety record gets worse and worse. But competitor's models keep getting better and better
Tyranamar Seuss 1 year ago
I could never buy from them now that I've heard what that guy has to say.
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#25
X box one was going to have only digital game sales.
They got beat up in the media so bad they quickly pivoted to also selling games on disc like before.
Lewis KR 1 year ago
I've had a few friends buy the online only playstation and I don't get it. You always have to pay playstation store price for a new game, and if you don't enjoy a game you can't recoup your losses by selling the disc on eBay etc
PFD 1 year ago
I was never able to wrap my head around the digital downloads costing a (usually significant) premium over the hardcopy. Just being unable to give away, share or sell an old game means a significant reduction in value, and given download and installation times, there's only a marginal convenience benefit. As a result I never bought a single Playstation download as far as I can remember.
Load More Replies... Sven Grammersdorf 1 year ago
Most of the time there's not even any data on the disc anymore. Just a code that allows you to download the game.
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mysterious(he/they, maybe?) 1 year ago
Digital only can be risky. I had a game that was digital only, and then my brother got that account hacked, and I lost the game.
#26
Netflix trying to spin off their DVD service into Qwikster, separate from its fledgling streaming service in 2011. Stock tanked 80% in part due to that, was shelved.
On a side note, billionaire investor Carl Icahn bought 11% of Netflix stock at the lows for $650M. He was going to agitate to sell the company, but the stock quickly ran up. He sold it at a 5x gain over the objection of his son...would have been worth about $25-30B today..
#27
The San Francisco 49ers tried to introduce a new logo in the early 90’s and it was honestly pretty ugly and bad. A “what were you trying to accomplish?” decision and this was in the years when they were winning like every other Super Bowl so people had grown attached to the look the team had worn to great success. Pre internet so the fans flooded the team with letters and calls and picket lines outside the office and the team said “fine we won’t use the new logo” .
Sand Ers 1 year ago
I remember that one well. When the backlash happened DeBartolo and the front office were mystified. They’d tested it before announcing it, and it had tested very well. Turns out the test they were using was to test for memorability, and it was very… memorable. Apparently it never occurred to anybody to ask the focus groups if they -liked- it.
Lavern Defazio 1 year ago
Now if only we could get them to picket and flood letters for something important.
#28
Just last month WWE caused a global fan backlash when The Rock came back and forced out Cody Rhodes from wrestling Roman Reigns in the main event at this year's WrestleMania. The backlash was so severe that WWE not only put Cody back in the main event but The Rock realized he had to turn heel so the booing and anti Rock chants made sense to the casual audience.
The Phantom Stranger 1 year ago
Dwayne Johnson was quickly building a reputation as one of the nicest and most bankable actors in Hollywood, but his arrogant and egotistical behavior surrounding the release of "Black Adam" not only put the final coffin nail in the DCEU, but also severely damaged his reputation with fans. I realize he's probably busy filming the live action version of "Moana", but you used to see him everywhere all the time, while now he has almost become invisible.
Randy Mertl 1 year ago
Too bad they didn’t realize wrestling is fake and the whole thing was staged.
Meagan Glaser 1 year ago
Next you should go to a shakespeare festival performance and let people know that Juliet isn't ACTUALLY dead, she's pretending. They'll be just as shocked as the wrestling fans
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#29
EA received huge backlash for adding loot boxes into the modern Battlefront 2 game. They actually basically removed them but there is a remnant still in the game. When you unlock new guns/cosmetics, it uses the loot box animation to show you what you unlocked. There is no way to get loot boxes in the game and the currency you unlock can directly unlock cosmetics now though.
I_imagine_even_worse_w***s 1 year ago
They always do it, though usually it's not so obvious it's repeated. It annoys me because seems they don't read the replied on reddit amd just copy a bunch of ones with a lot of upvotes. I haven't read this reddit post but they often miss great replies and focus on the votes even when they are the same thing!
Load More Replies... TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago
THey also tried to bypass laws preventing loot boxes being in games by calling it a "surprise mechanic". And I bet we could have a whole article alone over backlashes EA had to deal with
#30
If you follow tech the most recent one would probably be Nvidia with the RTX 4080. At first Nvidia launched a RTX 4080 16GB for $1199 and a RTX 4080 12GB for $899. The problem was the RTX 4080 12GB used an entirely different GPU and was significantly slower rather than just being a card with less VRAM as the name implied. Nvidia “unlaunched” the RTX 4080 12GB and relaunched it as the RTX 4070 Ti at $799.
What do you think ?
R Dennis 1 year ago
I guess most people are too young to remember the "New Coke" fiasco... my future FIL was one of the people who stockpiled cases of the old Coke.
The Other Guest 1 year ago
I was also surpised it didn't make the list. It was a pretty big deal back in the day.
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e gads 1 year ago
Llona was smoking some gud stuff when she made this list.few repeats and a couple that dont even make sense.i think a modern day third grader could do better
Bartlet for World Domination 1 year ago
They do make sense, it's just that you forgot the question a few dozen in.
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Jack Sonol 1 year ago
Pretty wild that all of these are relatively minor. Imagine the kind of world altering improvements we could make if people cared as much about slavery and human rights violations as they do their snacks, sports, or video games.
Wintermute 1 year ago
Well keep in mind, slavery and human rights violations ARE what allow us to have things like snacks, sports and video games. So it's clear we've picked a side.
Load More Replies... Becca not Becky 1 year ago
When Disney made the movie Coco, they tried to trademark Dia de Los Muertos. You can guess how Mexico and other Latin American countries felt about that.
Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago
In case is not clear enough from this list, companies will try absolutely anything to squeeze consumers and they only react to fear when sales or stock tanks.
Me. Just Me. 1 year ago
This must be an old list since there was no mention of the recent Adobe backlash. For those who don't know, Adobe essentially stonewalled subscribers into allowing the company to use their creations to train their AI. Failure to agree basically locked you out of the software you were subscribed to (since they no longer have perpetual licensing). Then to top it off, it's nearly impossible to unsubscribe from it and it generally results in early termination fees if you unsubscribe in the middle of your subscription year. All of this was quickly followed by a government lawsuit against them for these slimy tactics.
Guess Undheit 1 year ago (edited)
Nobody mentioned google's idiotic plan ten years ago, forcing everyone onto google+ by "requiring" it if you wanted to post comments on youtube. EVERYONE'S comment sections died, went silent. NOBODY signed up. Finally those idiots had to backtrack. Now google MINUS doesn't even exist. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTq8TrA3hb4 ]
R Dennis 1 year ago
I guess most people are too young to remember the "New Coke" fiasco... my future FIL was one of the people who stockpiled cases of the old Coke.
The Other Guest 1 year ago
I was also surpised it didn't make the list. It was a pretty big deal back in the day.
Load More Replies... e gads 1 year ago
Llona was smoking some gud stuff when she made this list.few repeats and a couple that dont even make sense.i think a modern day third grader could do better
Bartlet for World Domination 1 year ago
They do make sense, it's just that you forgot the question a few dozen in.
Load More Replies... Jack Sonol 1 year ago
Pretty wild that all of these are relatively minor. Imagine the kind of world altering improvements we could make if people cared as much about slavery and human rights violations as they do their snacks, sports, or video games.
Wintermute 1 year ago
Well keep in mind, slavery and human rights violations ARE what allow us to have things like snacks, sports and video games. So it's clear we've picked a side.
Load More Replies... Becca not Becky 1 year ago
When Disney made the movie Coco, they tried to trademark Dia de Los Muertos. You can guess how Mexico and other Latin American countries felt about that.
Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago
In case is not clear enough from this list, companies will try absolutely anything to squeeze consumers and they only react to fear when sales or stock tanks.
Me. Just Me. 1 year ago
This must be an old list since there was no mention of the recent Adobe backlash. For those who don't know, Adobe essentially stonewalled subscribers into allowing the company to use their creations to train their AI. Failure to agree basically locked you out of the software you were subscribed to (since they no longer have perpetual licensing). Then to top it off, it's nearly impossible to unsubscribe from it and it generally results in early termination fees if you unsubscribe in the middle of your subscription year. All of this was quickly followed by a government lawsuit against them for these slimy tactics.
Guess Undheit 1 year ago (edited)
Nobody mentioned google's idiotic plan ten years ago, forcing everyone onto google+ by "requiring" it if you wanted to post comments on youtube. EVERYONE'S comment sections died, went silent. NOBODY signed up. Finally those idiots had to backtrack. Now google MINUS doesn't even exist. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTq8TrA3hb4 ]
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