The nonprofit Center for America focuses on barriers to doing business, including excessive liability and over-regulation, and each year the group puts out a list of what it calls Wacky Warning Labels.
The list, in the form of contest submissions, was created by Bob Dorigo Jones, author “Remove Child Before Folding: The 101 Stupidest, Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever.”
This year’s winner: “Wash hands after using,” a label on a common indoor extension cord.
Other winners and finalists this year:
- “Not for contact lenses or direct use in eyes,” a warning on a bottle of spray-on anti-fog cleaner.
- “Company will not be held responsible for any illness or injury that is incurred while using the pedometer,” a label on a pedometer.
- “Not for human consumption,” a warning on a package of rubber worms made for fishing.
- “Combustion of this manufactured product results in the emissions of carbon monoxide, soot and other combustion by-products which are known by the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm,” a warning on a box of matches.
- Past winners have included a dust mask label that says “Does not supply oxygen,” “Never operate your speakerphone while driving” on a cell phone product called Drive N’ Talk, and “This product moves when used,” a warning label on a scooter.
None outdo the inspiration for the title of Jones’ book — “Remove child before folding,” a warning label on a baby stroller.
