enrevanche: Business 2.0: 2005's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business

26 January 2006

Business 2.0: 2005's 101 Dumbest Moments in Business - February 1, 2006

Ah, it's that time of year again - time for Business 2.0's "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" list.

Some of my favorites from the past year:

The superheated real-estate market creates a new trend: the conversion of abandoned lunatic asylums in major urban areas into condominiums and apartments. (editor's note: This story just works on so many levels.)
Commodities brokerage Refco lasts a total of nine (nine!) weeks on the New York Stock Exchange before having to disclose that its CEO has hidden over $400 million in debt "off the books." (Refco filed for bankruptcy and has been delisted; the CEO may well be headed for the Big House.)
Confectioner Russell Stover runs into a little trouble with the Catholic Church over its new line of Easter candies: little chocolate crucifixes...
ChoicePoint -- the self-proclaimed "leading provider of identification and credential verification services" -- admits that it sold the personal data of 145,000 people to a number of unauthorized recipients, including an identity-theft ring in Los Angeles. ChoicePoint thoughtfully offers the victims a free credit report -- but still makes them pay to see the detailed information that was provided to the criminals...
The Iowa Pork Producers Association announces that it may retire a contest used to promote its product -- due to the lack of interest among young Iowa women in being designated "Pork Queen"...
Attempting to reformulate Alpha-Bits into a healthier cereal made with 75 percent whole grains and no sugar, Kraft Foods runs into "letter integrity" issues: The whole-oat flour yields an edible alphabet that's too chunky to read, while the elimination of the sugar coating causes the floating font to break apart more readily...
With the help of Latin pop sensation Thalia Sodi, Hershey introduces Cajeta Elegancita, a new candy bar for the Hispanic market. Though the wrapper features a picture of Sodi, apparently she neglects to fill her Yanqui partners in on a subtlety of Spanish: In Mexico, "cajeta" can be used to mean "nougat." Elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, however, it's common slang for female anatomy (editor's note: "cajeta" translates literally as "small box," being a diminuitive of "caja," or box.)