The wrap-up: Wacky warning labels

A toilet brush with a tag that says, “do not use for personal hygiene” has taken the top prize for the wackiest consumer warning label of the year.

Dec 31st, 2004

Doled out yearly by the Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch group as announced in mid-January, the awards’ mission is to reveal how lawsuits and anxiety over lawsuits have created a need for more obvious warnings on products.

“Warning labels are a sign of our lawsuit-plagued times,” said Robert Dorigo Jones, Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch’s president. “Plaintiff’s lawyers who file the lawsuits that prompt these warnings argue they are making us safer, but the warnings have become so long that few of us read them anymore, even the ones we should read.”

Other winners include:

A scooter with the warning, “this product moves when used.”

A digital thermometer with the advice,“once used rectally, the thermometer should not be used orally.”

An electric blender used for chopping and dicing that reminds users to “never remove food or other items from the blades while the product is operating.”

A 3” bag of air used for packaging that reads, “do not use this product as a toy, pillow, or flotation device.”

The winning labels were chosen by listeners of a morning radio show in Detroit.

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