A warning label on a washing machine at a laundromat that warns, “Do not put any person in this washer” has been chosen as the nation’s wackiest warning label in M-LAW’s annual Wacky Warning Label Contest.
The contest, now in its tenth year, is conducted by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch, M-LAW, to reveal how lawsuits, and concern about lawsuits, have created a need for common sense warnings on products.

Link:
http://www.mlaw.org/wwl/index.html

The argument that these types of labels can protect both the consumer from harm and the company from litigation seems rather shaky to me.  The companies can’t warn against every possible stupidity, and so saying that the consumer doesn’t have to use common sense and can sue if something isn’t specifically warned against leaves too many openings for ridiculous lawsuits.  And it might also give some consumers the idea that if something isn’t specifically prohibited by the label, then it’s okay to do it; they might decide to forego any sort of responsibility of their own to use their judgment.

The labels in most cases are a direct result of litigation Acci… someone, somewhere DID some of this ridiculous stuff and then sued the companies who have created these labels.

I agree with your statement that people might decide to forgo responsibility… it seems the norm rather than the exception nowadays

oppiejoe - 10 January 2007 06:12 AM

I agree with your statement that people might decide to forgo responsibility… it seems the norm rather than the exception nowadays

Do you think it could be more the case that people do these irresponsible acts on purpose so they can “get rich quick” by suing the companies?

Are there any web sites that display actual pictures of these warning labels? It could be good for a laugh.

I think that one of the best and most all-inclusive warning labels (as far as protecting from litigation) I’ve seen was on a laboratory machine I had to work with.  The machine was of a type that had some rather serious hazards by its very nature, and was even worse than it would otherwise have been because it was really a piece of junk.  On the side of it was a great big bright yellow warning label, with all sorts of warnings written in Italian.  Then it had in English:  “WARNING—DO NOT!“.

Accipiter - 10 January 2007 03:27 PM

I think that one of the best and most all-inclusive warning labels (as far as protecting from litigation) I’ve seen was on a laboratory machine I had to work with.  The machine was of a type that had some rather serious hazards by its very nature, and was even worse than it would otherwise have been because it was really a piece of junk.  On the side of it was a great big bright yellow warning label, with all sorts of warnings written in Italian.  Then it had in English:  “WARNING—DO NOT!“.

Acci

Peter… there are links to photos of some of the winners in the original post…
Photo page

oppiejoe - 11 January 2007 08:30 AM

Peter… there are links to photos of some of the winners in the original post…
Photo page

Interesting.

You can tell that someone uses dates to choose their Lotto numbers.

And the original yellow pages?  With puppies on the front?

I always wondered how the pages got to be yellow…