TMFLomax (64.81)

Dumb Things

February 18, 2007 – Comments (1)

I was reading Business 2.0's January/February issue, which happened to contain their annual "101 Dumbest Moments" in business. I always enjoy reading lists like that, but kind of dread whether any of the stocks I own are featured.

Just Starbucks -- it clocked in at number 11, with the email-coupon-gone-viral debacle, which also got the honor of being the dumbest moment in marketing. That didn't surprise me though -- I wrote an article on Fool.com expressing my opinion that that was a pretty darn dumb move. (Of course I also found the subsequent lawsuit pretty ridiculous too.)

Oh and E, if you see this, the Bausch & Lomb/Renu recall made the list, at number 71.

Another hoot was Comcast's placement at number 10, with the incident where a Comcast repairman fell asleep on a customer's couch while on hold calling the company for assistance, and the customer caught it on video. It's been the year of amateur video, all right.

Interestingly, although Wal-Mart has been working hard to improve its image, the magazine said it earned six spots in this year's top 101, making it the "grand prize" winner.

I can't help but enjoy those types of features -- I also enjoy the one that comes out weekly from TheStreet.com. There's a lot of silliness that goes on. Anyway, it was a good issue of Business 2.0, it also had an interesting feature on some companies taking advantage of green business opportunities.