When
it was launched in 1997, M-LAW’s Wacky Warning Label
Contest encouraged millions of Americans to focus on
the need for legal reform in a most unique way. By
using humor as a hook, M-LAW, short for Michigan
Lawsuit Abuse Watch, captured the attention of the
media and engaged the public in a conversation about
how lawsuit abuse is changing our culture. This
January, M-LAW added a new twist to its popular
project and, in doing so, made the front page in
newspapers across America.
On the tenth anniversary of M-LAW’s
Wacky Warning Label Contest, the world’s third
largest publisher released a book based on M-LAW’s
contest entitled,
Remove Child Before Folding,
the 101 Stupidest, Silliest, and Wackiest Warning
Labels Ever.
Two days after its release by Warner Books, a
division of Hachette Book Group, the book rocketed
to number 10 on
Amazon.com’s
list of bestselling humor books. Both the book and
M-LAW’s contest have been featured on national
television and radio, and M-LAW’s website, a wealth
of information about the need for legal reform, was
visited by more than 100,000 people in a recent
two-day span.
“We’ve always wanted to reach the
heart of America with our message, and we decided
that one of the best ways to do so was to aim for
its funnybone,” said M-LAW president Bob Dorigo
Jones, author of Remove Child Before Folding.
“Legal reform is a confusing and intimidating
subject for many people, but when we point out that
a four-inch-long fish hook carries a label that
warns, ‘Harmful if swallowed,’ because the
manufacturer is afraid it will be sued if it
doesn’t, the average American understands. Creating
greater public awareness of this problem is the
first step toward solving the problem.”
Don’t wash people in the
washing machine...
|
 |
|
Radio Hall of Fame personality,
Dick Purtan, displays how a wet cell phone is NOT
supposed to be dried according to the warning label
that came with the phone. |
On January 2, Dorigo Jones appeared
on the Detroit radio show of Hall of Fame
broadcaster, Dick Purtan, to hold M-LAW’s annual
warning label contest. Over the next half hour WOMC-FM
listeners voted on the wackiest labels of the past
year.
When the tally was completed, a
warning label on a washing machine that warns, “Do
not put any person in this washer” was chosen as the
nation’s wackiest warning label. Bob Wilkinson of
Northville, Michigan won the $500 grand prize.
Other winners:
-
Second place was awarded
to a label on a personal watercraft that warns:
“Never use a lit match or open flame to check
fuel level.”
-
Third place went to a
warning on a cell phone that says: “Don’t try to
dry your phone in a microwave oven.”
-
An honorable mention was
given to a warning on the cover of a Yellow
Pages book which cautions users: “Please do not
use this directory while operating a moving
vehicle.”
In the subsequent Associated Press
article about the contest and book that was
reprinted in hundreds of newspapers and posted on
countless blogs, contest winner Wilkinson offered
this perspective, “Americans are too eager to sue
when something goes wrong, regardless of who's at
fault...That company's trying to protect itself
against some vicious lawsuit.” We couldn’t have
said it any better.
If you would like to help M-LAW
spread the word about the need for common sense
legal reform, or if you know of someone who needs a
good laugh, Remove Child Before Folding is available
at all major bookstores and online by clicking
here. This book will leave readers wondering
whether to laugh or cry about the state of America’s
legal system. All royalties from the book will go to
support efforts to restore fairness and reliability
in the courts.
Visit M-LAW’s
www.wackywarnings.com
Visit M-LAW’s home page
At Warner Books, contact Tom
Haushalter about REMOVE CHILD BEFORE FOLDING:
212-364-1356,
tom.haushalter@hbgusa.com.
