Warning Labels

On Thursday, January 24, my family and I went shopping at the Vaughn Mills mall, just north of Toronto. One of the features of Vaughn Mills, is that it contains a NASCAR Speed Park. This has many impacts on the mall itself, some obvious, like the huge volume of people that it brings in. As well as some not so obvious, like the fact that they have shopping carts that look small race cars. And this is what today's post is about. These shopping carts allow you to put one or two children in the front of it, and at the back is a space to put your purchases. At the back of the cart, where the handle connects, is a large, mesh bag. Printed on this bag, was a sign that read "Do not place child in bag."



Now, odds are, that if the mall went through all the trouble of printing that sign on all of those bags, it was because somebody saw fit to put a child in that bag. You see stuff like this all of the time, fast food coffee cups now come with a warning advising the consumer to be careful because the contents are hot. Duhhh, what kind of an idiot need a warning on a cup to tell them that the coffee they just bought is hot? What's next, a warning on soft drink cups warning the consumer that the ice may stick to their tongues?



Now many companies will argue that they need this warnings to protect themselves from lawsuits. Many people will also argue that we have become a very litigious society. Now, that may be true, but that is a result of people not being responsible for their own actions. Is it McDonald's fault if, after leaving the Drive-thru, while you are driving 100kmh down the highway, that you spill your hot coffee in your lap and severely burn your genitals? I think not! Some people will complain that it was too and therefore the fault of McDonald's that they got burned. A lawsuit gets launched and an even dumber jury awards the person millions of dollars, all because of their own stupidity.



This whole thing of warning labels makes me wonder what is next? I can see it now, razors with warnings by using this product, you may suffer nicks or cuts that may cause bleeding.