Mark Hoofnagle has a MD and PhD in physiology from the University of Virginia, and is now a general surgery resident. His interest in denialism concerns the use of denialist tactics to confuse public understanding of scientific knowledge.
In Adam Sandler's 2008 masterpiece, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, the actor is offered a job at an electronics store called "Going Out of Business." This is a shady operation that constantly makes false claims about products and rips people off. Sandler was mocking a real phenomenon--the liquidation companies named "going out of business" or "total liquidation sale." The Journal has a fun article on the issue today, focusing on a rug salesman who has settled down in Texas for a permanent going out of business sale. Barry Newman reports:
Many localities do have rules against such claims. New York City asks stores to get licenses for angst-inspired specials, from "fire sale" to "lost our lease." Texas asks the same. But with blowouts on every corner, there's been no burst in enforcement. Texas has issued 49 such licenses since 2001 -- and prosecuted one used-car dealer in Austin.
Politics
Comments
It's good! Sony guts.
Posted by: MarkH | June 24, 2009 8:26 AM
A long time ago one of our major Canadian department store retailers (The Bay, I believe) got in trouble for its "white" sales. Its white sales usually involved its towels. Canada's fair trade agency fined them for misleading advertising. As it turned out, about 80% of the time their towels were on sale and only about 20% of the time they were at regular price. The agency concluded the sale price was, in fact, the regular price. They just had periodic "pay more" days.
Posted by: karl | June 26, 2009 10:11 AM
Suggestion for the spam filters: findrxonline
They are persistent.
Posted by: Tsu Dho Nimh | June 26, 2009 2:15 PM
"Masterpiece"? You must be joking, right?
This was the worst piece of Adam Sandler formulaic pablum since the Wedding Singer sequel. Not to mention all the silly attempts to make kooky hardcore Judaism look "hip" and somehow not-insane, and their neighbors look primitive, to the point I seriously smelled a failed AIPAC cultural op ad buy aimed at the kids. What an abomination.
Posted by: melior | July 5, 2009 11:24 PM