Overexcitable UK ads regulator gabbles that Amazon broke EU law The Advertising Standards Authority has alleged in an extraordinary statement that Amazon broke EU law by putting food supplements in a section of Amazon.com dedicated to weight loss and slimming items. The ASA issued a press release this morning attacking Amazon after receiving a single complaint from an unspecified person or …
You're implying that ADA is completely crazy to think people would believe products in the "weight loss" section to be designed to lose weight?
And that Amazon is so vehemently sure they're right that they immediately complied, without so much of a token legal resistance?
Lots of Amazon ads on ElReg lately?
Just asking, you know, I've got that adblocker getting in the way, I'm blaming it for my ignorance.
Agree (not with the whole... snark), but the overall ADA case. There is no limit to consumer stupidity when it comes to these things. Take the scandal about "pseudo-cheese" on frozen pizza a few years back: Basically they had a cheese substitute on top based on vegetable oils, because it is cheaper than real cheese. The same people buy pseudo-butter (margarine), which is the same thing, because they perceive it to be "more healthier"...
@ Joe W
"There is no limit to consumer stupidity"
That statement alone proves that nothing will stop the terminally stupid. Doesnt matter how sanitised the world some idiot will screw up. And so the world only needs to be good enough for the rest of us to live our lives and get on.
We cant make things fool proof because there is always a bigger fool.
@Joe W; So, you know for a fact that the people who complained to the ASA about "pseudo-cheese" (#) were the same people who buy margarine because it's "more healthier" (##), or did you just assume that?
And you're also entirely sure that they complained about it for health reasons and not- say- because they didn't appreciate being sold a low-quality substitute as the real thing? Nor possibly that they objected on principle to something being described as something it wasn't, even if they didn't have any strong objections to imitation-cheese-flavour-food-product per se?
(#) I'm assuming this is who "the same people" referred to.
(##) "More healthier", ha ha, those idiotic people can't even speak right! Especially not when you're putting your own, intentionally stupid choice of words into their mouths.
I have not given in and bought or even searched on their site for anything from them for 2-years yet I still get emails saying...
"based your recent seatch history you might be interested in...."
And the thing they are promoting is exactly what I bought last time or the time before that etc etc.
There are no Amazon tracking cookies on my laptop but they won't give up.
How many effing Anvils do they think I want eh? It is not as it they wear out or break.
It must be part of their grand plan to wear us down and make us only want to buy from them.
If we don't say no and soon, there won't be any retailers left apart from them. It is clear to me that Google and Amazon want to rule the world.
Yours, peed off from Wigan
I buy stuff via Amazon all the time. I also never get any emails from them suggesting I might want to buy something. Perhaps that's because I don't retain cookies after logging out from Amazon.
I'd also point out that it appears to have escaped your notice that a huge number of companies sell their products to customers via Amazon. It's just not Amazon themselves...
I'd also point out that it appears to have escaped your notice that a huge number of companies sell their products to customers via Amazon. It's just not Amazon themselves...
Yes, something Amazon are under EU investigation for, because there's a whiff of market distorting practices. Of course Amazon wouldn't EVER use Amazon Marketplace as free-to-Amazon market discovery and innovation mechanism. And the'd CERTAINLY never then introduce duplicate products to Amazon and undercut the Marketplace vendors. Ooooh no, Amazon's a good, upstanding company that treats its workers well, pays its taxes, and is a model of decent behaviour.
/sarc
If we don't say no and soon, there won't be any retailers left apart from them. It is clear to me that Google and Amazon want to rule the world.
That's the plan. Unfortunately it's wrong. Retailing has low barriers to entry, so Amazon can only ever jack up rices by a very small amount before people decide they won't pay a premium for Amazon service. And no matter how many dead retailers there are, there's always somebody who wants to have a go,
And you have to remember that Google (in this context) benefit from competition amongst retailers, so the last thing they want is Amazon (or anybody else) as a global retail monopoly.
And a final thought, no corporation lasts for ever. They get big, they get stale, they fail to innovate and growth slows to a trickle, and they don't see the truck that eventually hits them, whether that's a smarter new competitor, a market trend that reduces demand, or regulation.
The future's bright, but its neither orange, Google or Amazon. Could take a few years mind you.
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