Am I the only one to side with Banzai?
People with giant kids shouldn't complain.
Think of the NBA and WNBA income down the road and let it go.

Triple damages!?

So does that mean Massachusetians can triple their cash simply by buying pool products with deceptive packaging? This could be the a new economic stimulus package. Best of all, it won't cost the government anything, and it's open market friendly. It's a perfect win-win-win solution!

Even then, I remember seeing an inflatable "water park" at Costco that had heavily abused Photoshop for its cover. Judging by the picture of the kids standing on or around the thing, the manufacturer was implying the thing was roughly 20'wide, 30' long, and at least 15' tall - and yet it all fit into a box barely 2 cubic feet in size.

Looking at the actual dimensions printed on the box (6'x4'x3') it was barely big enough for a single 2 year old to play with, let alone the 10 tween-aged kids pictured on the box.

It's one thing for consumers to be sharp and astute, but would it really be too much to ask if the stores exercised a bit more scrutiny about the products they offer?

They definitely should've shopped at Walmart!

Oh wait....

@bunnymare:The disappointment combined with mom's "I told you it wouldn't be as much fun as the package/commercial made it look" taught me to mistrust advertisement. It is an attitude that keeps my bank account happy.

I bet they can get away with this type of deception because they list the dimensions on the box.

Critical thinking is key. Avoid the impulse buys spurred on by offspring pressure.

Remember, K-Mart historically sells poor quality products.

Besides these clear examples... and Banzai products... I can't think of anything else that is so commonly grossly misrepresented. That's why I don't think it was unreasonable for the kids (and the parents) to presume the product they were purchasing was similar to the item displayed on the box. And, while dimensions were provided, it's additionally reasonable to estimate product size based on its size in proportion to recognizable objects (i.e. the kids on the box cover). Dimensions are more important when you have no frame of reference.

What a ripoff.

Oh, and also stay away from Banzai products.

The company behind the Banzai brand is ToyQuest. They also OEM stuff for a bunch of other companies like Nickelodeon and Disney. If you bought a toy last year that turned out to be shoddily made and dishonestly packaged, chances are ToyQuest made it.

That little girl has no intention of peacefully striking back at Banzai. Just look at her face. She wants to kill. Only blood will satiate her desire for revenge. If you're going to hire little girl to kill the bad guys, you'd better make damn sure that the bad guy isn't YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU

The problem with Banzai is they do not change the picture on their boxes for the smaller products. They have huge systems that retail for over $300 and the pictures are the same as the smaller $30.00 products.

Ewww.. That's gross.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Actually, that episode of The Venture Bros. was pretty good.

**MostlyHarmless

Banzai products have been known to do this before. They misrepresent their water slides and such as much larger than they truly are. Many a time have I seen them returned to the store, usually carted by an angry parent and upset children.

@bunnymare: I don't agree with your logic about the price vs. the size of the pool. There are many inflatable pools in the $30 price range that are bigger and nicer than the one featured in this article. For example, the Intex Rectangular Party Pool is 10 feet long and easily big enough for four adults. I bought one for my 3 year old son for $30 and it's enormous -- and it looks just like the picture on the box. Inflatable pools are extremely cheap to make. There's no reason the picture on the box couldn't have matched the product in reality.

I don't understand the life lesson you will be teaching your kid -- other than to stay away from Banzai products. Or, I guess you'll make them Google every purchase before they buy it.

@Outrun1986: More Banzai fault but the Buyer for K-Mart would have known.
I don't feel mercy for K-Mart as they are part of the deception.

@bubbledumpster: Make sure you don't shop at Walmart, Toys-R-Us, Target, or Amazon either. You can find this product at any one of these locations.

@MostlyHarmless: Ewww.. That's gross. I was just trying to be witty after I finally got an icon for myself.

I didn't intend to conjure gross mental images of my cat poking out of me or mutant cat/person connotations.

Now I'm self concious because last night my husband said that my name was "stupid" and "too long".

Maybe I'll change it to Kimaroo - New and Improved!

Its weird, but when i read the "20% more kitty added" part, the first thing i thought of was some guy who had his twin brother growing inside of him.

If anything I would be an anthromorphic penguin. Maybe I should switch to dolphins.

@MostlyHarmless: Lol..

Does that make you a mutant penguin?

The company probably has micro-print somewhere on the box (most likely in the huge product warning statment) that says:

"Colors, dimensions, and product features may vary from pictures. Company reserves the right to change specifications without notice."

Then they use this to bail on mad customers.

The blame really lies on the manufacturer (Banzai) for creating the deceptive images on the box in the first place.

Frankly I would not buy any product that says return to manufacturer on it unless I really knew that the manufacturer would stand behind its products and it would have to be a very exceptional circumstance. It seems like this statement on a product is a red flag saying its a shady product that may or may not be as advertised or may not work properly. Thankfully certain states have laws that basically say if you buy something at a certain retailer that they have to take it back regardless of these statements if the product is faulty.

Of course it's K-Mart's fault. They made the choice to sell this crap. They are fully responsible for their product sourcing.

Man.. this is exactly like my SeaMonkeys.

Probably that the picture would move units, and 99% of consumers would be too stupid/lazy/embarrassed to do anything about it.

Courtest Kimaroo, the mutant kitty.

Girls complain more than boys...lol.

However, Googling the thing I see it seems to sell for about $30, and if it was on sale it would have been less than that. If I looked at the price, and then looked at the package, I would have thought to myself "NO WAY am I getting that giant Alligator pool for this price, something must be up". And I probably would have then checked the dimensions, or opened the packaging to examine it. Look at the little girl holding the box - NO WAY is a pool as big as shown on the box contained in that tiny package. Adults have these critical thinking skills, and we should use them. This OBVIOUSLY does not absolve this manufacturer (or any other) from the obligation to NOT LIE ON THE BOX. Rightly so does Banzai now have an absolute bad name in my mind.

However, I would sort of feel a duty to teach my kids that critical thinking lesson (to doubt advertising, etc.) and protect them from the bitter disappointment of opening the slide to find out it's smaller than depicted. That's a life lesson they need to learn, and one where the teaching should start young. The kids were not really in a position to be able to figure that out before getting home, but the parent was.

Sure, a retailer like K-Mart would do the refunds as a cost of doing business knowing some percentage of people will toss their receipts immediately, some won't be bothered to hassle with the line at returns, and some are ok with the deception. They'd pass the buck to the manufacturer.

Apple-mart will only stock the finest in, uh, gosh, I really don't want to open a retail store. What a hassle to make sure what the "finest" of anything is.

@Scoobatz: But then they wouldn't be ripping somebody off.

*horrified gasps*
*soap opera organ music*

(*You can still see the scars where the doctor put his elbow back together with pins.)

What would be the harm in delivering the product pictured on the box and charging consumers an appropriate price for it? The Banzai pool designs are actually quite good, but you'll never be able to find a product that lives up to its picture.

I do have to agree though, that pool is grossly undersized based on the image on the packaging. There are 5 kids on the packaging and the kids on the packaging look bigger (at least 10-12 years old) than the ones trying to play in the pool for real. There is even one teen/adult in the pool on the picture and in the picture it is holding him fine. This pool can barely hold 2 smaller children given the pictures of the actual pool.

I paused the vid around the one minute mark where the kid is jumping around, and he looks around the same size as the kid on the left of the box photo.

Seriously not trying to blame the op. Just wondering if my eyes are playing tricks on me and everyone else is seeing a much, much smaller pool than I am.

My kids were victims of Banzai's 'Water Park' this year. The pic had five eight-year olds playing in the pool; my eight-year old daughter was TALLER than the length of the pool.

Banzai probably thought they could outsmart common folk by posting dimensions on the box (as we all carry tape measures with us to go shopping), and have a warning on the inside flap begging 'not to return to the retailer'... like, 'please don't tell on us!'

You see this all the time with grills, too. They put teeny, tiny hamburger patties and steaks on the grill for the picture on the package to make it appear the grill will accommodate more food than it actually does.

@JustinSane07: Girls mature faster than boys.. lol.

To be clear - you're talking about the picture with the girl standing in front of the pool, right? The other one is photoshopped.

I don't know how anyone could expect that small box to hold a pool the size of the one in the picture, but the picture is clearly and intentionally deceptive. I can't imagine that anyone who has bought that pool is happy with it.

The funny part about this to me is that the daughter is annoyed, but the boy is just happy to have a pool. He doesn't give a rat's ass that it's smaller than it pictures.

Ans squarely

What was the marketing guy thinking? I know we'll shrink all the kids so we can fit 10 of them in this thing when it barely handles one.

@Kimaroo - 20% More Kitty Added!: Ah Hah! Here is one.

It's the same company too. These guys should be taken down.

We need the giant children to go stage a revolt against the tiny children.

Seems as if the Donnellans need to go after their blog host next...we brought their server down.

This seems to be a common theme with this particular manufacturer.

i imagine they could return it. @zarex42: i'm sure they can return it if not satisfied. seriously though, if that picture above is accurate, how can any kid expect to have fun on that POS?

Awww man.. not again!

Won't someone think of the children?!

I tried to find the other stories on the Consumerist where kids were disapointed by the tiny children on the boxes of these outdoor toys and I couldn't seem to get the right search terms.. but I know it's happened more than once on here.

Stupid tiny children. They should stop their fun looking product modeling.

@zarex42: Only if the business does not respond appropriately, such as refusing a refund