• advertising

    Nestle Quik Flipbook Ad On DC Metro Walls Is Kinda Magical

    As the DC red line train I rode last week shot through a tunnel, a happy brown bunny jumped up and down on the walls, lofting up a bottle of Nestle Quik. It wasn't a video, it was a series of back-illuminated panels, each one a successive frame in the animated cartoon. It was like running through flipbook in real life. I found a clip of it on YouTube, posted inside, the cartoon starts at 15 seconds in. More »

    4:13 PM on Tue Dec 2 2008
    By Ben Popken
    10,655 views, 78 comments

    Most discussed Hamtronix: They have something similar in the Boston T underground. more »

  • videos

    Busted: Linen's N Things Liquidation Prices Actually Higher Than Original

    A Good Morning America hidden camera investigation found that if you peel back the label on the "sale" items at Linen's N Things, you'll find the old label underneath, with a cheaper price. How do they get away with saying "10-20% off sale" then? More »

    10:36 AM on Tue Nov 25 2008
    By Ben Popken
    22,492 views, 101 comments

    Most discussed Chris H: A sale must be a meaningful reduction in price, and raising prices in anticipation of a sale is a deceptive more »

  • pharma

    Video: Go In For Migraine, End Up With Amputation

    Imagine going to the doctor for a severe migraine and ending up with your right arm amputated. That's what happened to Diana Levine when her doctor injected her with Phenergan, it seeped out of the vein into an artery, and gave her gangrene. More »

    1:07 PM on Fri Nov 21 2008
    By Ben Popken
    15,385 views, 79 comments

    Most discussed RudeandRude: I hate to side with a pharma company, but I'm not really sure it's anyone's fault in this case. more »

  • badvertising

    Motrin Retracts Ads After Babywearing Mamas Protest

    So, Motrin made an ad trying to target babywearers, that is, parents, who wear their babies in a sling. The ad spoke with winking and jaded knowingness about how babywearing was a fashion statement and caused various back pains that could be alleviated with Motrin. Unfortunately, it seems they never tested the ads before actual babywearing parents. That knowingness? Yeah, it wasn't actually based on knowing anything. More »

    8:00 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Ben Popken
    10,455 views, 68 comments

    Most discussed thewriteguy: I'm a little baffled here -- are the "babywearers" offended by the campaign, or have they just been pointing out more »

  • investigations

    Video: JiffyLube Caught Upselling Car-Damaging Repair Services

    KNBC undercover cameras caught local JiffyLubes and EZ-Lubes upselling customers to buy engine-flushing and fuel-injection cleaning services, services which have been forbidden by auto-manufacturers because they're unnecessary and can severely damage your engine. One guy's engine died while he was driving on the highway, and it cost him $5,000 to replace his engine. More »

    4:44 PM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Ben Popken
    18,651 views, 94 comments

    Most discussed nursetim: It was all of the upselling that soured me forever on oil change places. I have been changing my more »

  • shopping

    Find The Lowest Price With BeatMyPrice.com


    BeatMyPrice is a new great price-comparison site launched by the makers of retailmenot and bugmenot. Just type in the product name, the website where you found it, the price, and check if it can be found elsewhere, using both searchbots and the results entered by other users. If your price is the best one, then it becomes the new best price for that product. Nifty idea, and a very easy to use interface. The one thing is that you'll probably want to check the lowest price retailers you find with resellerratings.com to check out their reputations first before finalizing your purchase. Inside, a video from the site founder to see the new tool in action: More »

    11:10 AM on Thu Nov 13 2008
    By Ben Popken
    4,303 views, 8 comments

    Most discussed humphrmi: Wow, that's really hard to read. The article points out that the site is booming based on the huge slide of more »

  • Video: What Are Margin Calls?

    What are margin calls? The term has been bandied about lately as being one of the reasons for the steep declines in the market. Basically, it's when depositor's margin account at a brokerage falls below minimum levels and the brokerage tells the depositor to either deposit more money or they have to sell off some of their holdings. And a spate of selling drives down stock prices because as supply increases, prices drop. But why are there margin accounts and why are brokerages making margin calls in the first place? Marketplace's ever-salubrious Paddy Hirsch explains with girl scouts, girl scout cookies, a whiteboard, dry-erase markers, and stick figures, in the video inside... More »

    4:03 PM on Mon Nov 10 2008
    By Ben Popken
    4,317 views, 19 comments

    Most discussed squablow: I like this guy and his little videos. The first one, with shorting stocks, I knew what that was before more »

  • investigations

    Video: Ben Popken Investigates for CNBC's On The Money

    Here's the clip from my piece and appearance on CNBC's On The Money on Friday night. I attended a Robert Allen Institute get rich in real estate seminar, interviewed some attendees, and gave tips on what to watch out for in "money-making opportunity" scams. Here are some red flags to beware:

    • Promises of fast and easy money
    • The person who brings you in gets a cut of your profits, and then you get a cut off new people you bring into the system
    • Requires large upfront fees before you really understand what's going on
    As one interviewee told me, anyone who's got a killer investing strategy is out there doing it, they're not giving free seminars about it. Watch the video, inside... More »

    8:05 AM on Sat Nov 8 2008
    By Ben Popken
    8,257 views, 50 comments

    Most discussed Teradoc: That is a good video, wish I had saw that over 4 years ago when I got suckered into Quixtar. I more »

  • funny

    How An Ex-Lehman Brothers ibanker Fills His Days

    What does an ex-Lehman Brothers i-banker do now that he has no reason to live? This brilliant, amusing, well-put-together, and NSFW video explores the answer. "I've been waking up 5:40 every morning, not waking up for Lehman Brothers necessarily, but when I wake up, I put on a suit." I know there's a lot of so-called "funny videos" on the internet, but seriously, this is a good one. Watch it inside. More »

    5:29 PM on Fri Oct 24 2008
    By Ben Popken
    29,724 views, 33 comments

    Most discussed albear: The guy has a future in TV! Hell, this looks like some sort of Office episode. BTW, he has a more »

  • badvertising

    Circuit City: The Lost Years

    This clip is a sort of medley of all of Circuit City's dashed dreams and hopes, as told through their ads from nearly two decades ago. Look at the first one, the ad that announced their arrival to the New England area. What do the eager young bucks in it promise and how have those promises stood the test of time? More »

    4:31 PM on Thu Oct 23 2008
    By Ben Popken
    9,313 views, 49 comments

    Most discussed Corporate-Shill: Loose CC and what in hades will keep BB in check? No opinion? No, the internet is not an option as too more »