The US Food and Drug Administration started regulating the labeling of food, beverages, and medicines after the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, and added food coloring and cosmetics with the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They have just released a new website, the FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1906-1963, containing data from thousands of cases of mislabeled or misadvertised products and drugs, available in multiple forms (text, PDF, metadata XML, .TIF image, etc.), with searchable archives. Poking around in the data will yield information on cases ranging from misbranding methamphetamine tablets, to quack "Film-O-Sonic" devices, to bacteria-laden unproven abortifacients sold over the counter, to purported "4-way" cures for baldness, to hunks of radium sold for putting in your drinking water to "stimulate the sex organs" (judged against for stating an unproven use, not for actual danger of product). Organized by the FDA's history office, the new database is a fascinating resource for historians, public safety advocates, researchers, and librarians.
posted by Asparagirl on Apr 6, 2009 - 28 comments

Get your creative juices flowing and challenge your thinking with a visit to trucdesign.com, a showcase of innovative, incredible, and often impractical products and concepts. Just a few direct links: Cardboard furniture for kids, CoffeeTime seating, Paper Airplane coffee table, Double-O cooking system, Carpet-lounge.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on Mar 28, 2008 - 4 comments

Irritated and indifferent -- consumers in the Expectation Economy. [more inside]
posted by tkolar on Jan 23, 2008 - 20 comments

Nasal strips for horses. I thought it was a parody when I saw it on Cardhouse, but no, they exist. Now your steed can nicker and snort as if with nostrils of Teflon.
posted by joeclark on Oct 25, 2007 - 19 comments

Are you tired of NOT smelling like characters in Neil Gaiman books?? Well thank Morpheus, just like Alex Burgess in The Wake, your long nightmare is at an end thanks to this collection of Gaiman-inspired perfumes & colognes.
posted by jonson on Jul 23, 2007 - 50 comments

On Sunday, April 1, ThinkGeek.com jokingly introduced the 8-bit Tie, and due to customer demand, claims that now it'll be a real product. On Friday, April 13, apparently due to customer demand, hard drive manufacturer WiebeTech has now introduced the MouseJiggler, and claims it's not a joke.
posted by Fofer on Apr 14, 2007 - 28 comments

Grandma's Kitchen (youtube), the Roller Toaster, the water-less washing machine, the sculptures of Gwon Osong, a crucifix-shaped mp3 player... some of the people and things found on CubeMe, a blog about "wonderful stuff".
posted by dobbs on Dec 20, 2006 - 13 comments

Useful German Products
posted by BuddhaInABucket on Oct 21, 2006 - 28 comments

From the Hands of Slaves: Common products of forced labor. [Via MoFi.]
posted by homunculus on Feb 25, 2006 - 18 comments

"Drove my Chevy to the levee..."? That's a lawsuit. "Pass the Courvoisier"? Yup. Lawsuit too. Artwork using Barbie Dolls? Lawsuit again... It's all part of the Trademark Dilution Revision Act, which would eliminate the non-commercial "fair use" protections of trademarks in art, literature, and speech-- To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 with respect to dilution by blurring or tarnishment. It goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee on the 16th, and there's a large roster of groups fighting it, including the American Library Association, EFF, and more, saying that consumers as well as artists would be preventing from exercising their free speech rights unless it's amended.
posted by amberglow on Feb 3, 2006 - 35 comments

Zombied-out customer-service reps beware: the Consumerist, the newest edition to Nick Denton's Gawker "nanopublishing" empire, is watching you. Gizmodo's Joel Johnson (who recently spent a month in New Orleans) serves up sassy shopping tips and customer-service-tests-from-Hell. More hip-product-pr0n-with-an-attitude, just in time for Christmas the happy holidays^TM.
posted by digaman on Dec 7, 2005 - 18 comments

Ever spent your precious morning minutes in bed turning your pillow over repeatedly, seeking in vain for the coveted cool spot? Search no more.
posted by allkindsoftime on Nov 29, 2005 - 27 comments

iPhone is here (nearly!) ...Apple reveals the iPhone! And the iPod nano?
posted by tommyc on Sep 7, 2005 - 151 comments

Thudguard: proudly creating a generation of children who randomly slam their heads into the ground after not learning the do-not-hurt-head part of growing up.
posted by pivotal on Aug 23, 2005 - 35 comments

Spray-on Mud - So you own a big 4x4, and you feel a bit stupid that you only use it to take the children to school. You want people to think you're a bit country - that you need 6 tonnes of car to get you from A to B because you like to take it off-road every so often. You need Spray-on Mud apparently.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian on Jun 14, 2005 - 101 comments

The Perfect Sideburns in just five minutes? Can it really be that easy? Why, this is a product fit for a king!
posted by Robot Johnny on May 14, 2005 - 29 comments

Of Superheroes, Product Placements, and PSAs. A nostagia-filled gallery of comic book covers with all your favourite (and no so favourite) spandex-clad superheroes shilling everything from Hostess cream-filled Twinkies to saying no to crack.
posted by Sully on Mar 16, 2005 - 12 comments

Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific! Yes, back in the 70s it was all right to say this to unsuspecting strangers here in the US. We live in different times now, but the product is once again available, imported from the Phillipines by The Vermont Country Store, also selling all manner of odd products from yesteryear. (Midget joke not included)
posted by Ogre Lawless on Aug 31, 2004 - 14 comments

Human Beans Fictional Products. The Karmaphone, the Live Cigarettes and more
posted by ronsens on Aug 12, 2004 - 0 comments

Beeman's
Brillo
Cream of Wheat
Classic American consumer products in 3-D
posted by putzface_dickman on Oct 1, 2003 - 16 comments

Spirit Foam: cheerleading has finally been reduced to a spray can.
posted by mathowie on Aug 28, 2002 - 30 comments

I thought I'd heard every crazy idea in the world. And now I have.
posted by Spoon on May 10, 2002 - 47 comments

Introducing eMac, a new version of the iMac aimed solely at the education market. Rather than getting all slashdotty, let's discuss the looks of it, rather than the guts, and debate the wiseness of this new strategy. Oh, Apple also released a new 800MHz TiBook.
posted by me3dia on Apr 29, 2002 - 59 comments

Niches of Trust is an Online Journalism Review article about three 'consumer journalism' sites run by individuals who come from journalism backgrounds. They do something now rare in corporate media - provide honest information separate from advertiser influence and, when necessary, are critical of the business or product being reviewed. The sites are The Car Place, Theme Park Insider and Consumer World. What are your favorite run-by-one-person sites that provide critical analysis of products?
posted by fleener on Jan 27, 2002 - 5 comments

Time's 2001 inventions of the year awards. Why do all of these have that cheesy "Sharper Image" feel to them? Aren't there inventions out there slightly more important than a potato masher or a remote control smoke alarm? Naww, everything else would go over the heads of the readers. Keep that gravy comin' ma!
posted by skallas on Nov 21, 2001 - 24 comments

The Economics of Aesthetics Warning, free registration is required
This article points out an interesting problem with calculating how much a product is worth... How much is aesthetics worth to the consumer? How do you even calculate that? (via Signal vs. Noise.)
posted by chason on Jul 12, 2001 - 1 comment

The CES Hall of Shame. The ten stupidest products these guys saw at CES this week. My favorite: Panasonic's Internet-Capable Microwave Ovens. [shudder]
posted by Steven Den Beste on Jan 12, 2001 - 4 comments

A new feature from Deja.com "will automatically link mentions of product names in discussion threads to a commerce area on its site." Is it really useful, as Deja claims, or does it imply endorsements for the linked products by the authors of the posts?
posted by phichens on Jul 26, 2000 - 7 comments