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What a brilliant idea. KFC found a company to create fireplace logs that smell like fried chicken, including the 11 secret herbs and spices.
But, as with most potentially hazardous products, these fireplace logs come with a set of fine print warnings.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Happy 2019 from Mouse Print*.
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NOTE: The next new Mouse Print* story will be published on January 7th.
We wrap up the year with another round of products that have been downsized.
This has been the year of shrinking orange juice containers. First it was Tropicana and then Simply Orange followed suit. And now it’s Florida’s Natural that has gone from 59 ounces to just 52 ounces.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Toilet paper is one of the categories subject to frequent downsizing. And a popular brand, Cottonelle has shrunk again. This time, it lost 40 sheets per roll. Thanks to our friend Richard G. for spotting this.
*MOUSE PRINT:
But let’s not leave out the king of toilet tissue – Charmin. Their “strong” mega rolls went from 308 sheets to just 286 sheets per roll. Mega is not so mega anymore. Thanks to Richard G. again.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Now here’s a product you would never expect to be downsized – those little Sweet ‘n Low packets. Eagled-eyed Nancy S. caught this inconspicuous change with each packet going from 0.04 ounces to 0.035 — five-thousands of an ounce less. But the packet says it is still equivalent to about two teaspoons of sugar.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Next, we have Johnson’s Baby shampoo. Tom G. found that the old 15-ounce bottle is now just 13.6 ounces for the same price. It’s never too early to teach a child about downsizing.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Finally, we have CVS cashews. A sharp-eyed shopper, Mario C., caught the fact that CVS lopped off three-quarters of an ounce from their own brand of whole cashews (like it is not bad enough that they charge over $15 for slightly more than a pound of nuts). The package redesign gave the drug chain an opportunity to change the net weight too.
*MOUSE PRINT:
If you spot a product that has been recently downsized, please submit it to: edgar (at symbol) mouseprint.org
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Earlier this year we told you about a devious set of terms and conditions used by Kohl’s which declared that by merely walking through the doors of any of their stores you were giving up the right to sue them. See original story.
Now comes an email from AAA (American Automobile Association) entitled “Welcome to Your AAA Network!” It goes on to say how special I am:
“You’ve been chosen out of nearly 6 million AAA members to enjoy access to this improved version of Your AAA.”
I can’t contain my excitement.
“Thank you for joining the Your AAA Network and being a part of our digital future!”
Join? I didn’t join anything.
Then comes the clincher:
*MOUSE PRINT:
“By opening this email, you are automatically enrolled and you will no longer receive the printed version of our member publication.”
Oh, so by my mere action of opening the email, I have agreed to no longer receiving AAA’s monthly print publication?
Of course, it would have been wishful consumer thinking that the subject line should have said: “Warning. Opening this email will end your magazine subscription.”
To give AAA some credit, they do allow you to opt back in to the printed version by sending an email to the editor. I won’t choose that option since their lovely little newspaper went directly into the trash anyway each month. It is just kind of presumptuous to use language suggesting that my actions in reading the email caused my print subscription to be discontinued.
At least they will be saving some trees now.