The first prize of $500 went to an American from California who sent a warning from a massage chair produced by Human Touch Technology. It reads: “When sitting in the chair, do not remove your underwear and do not push any parts of the body between the massage rollers.” The second prize went to a warning written in the instructions for using a snow blower: “Do not use the snow blower on the roof!” Third place went to a warning attached to a dishwasher: “Do not let children play in the dishwasher.”
For six years now, the Michigan attorneys’ association has been sponsoring the prize. The organization seeks to show that companies, out of fear of consumer lawsuits, sometimes lose all sense of proportion. “The aim of the prize is not to laugh at those who place such warnings. What these companies produce may be very good merchandise; we just want to show the pointlessness of the constant lawsuits filed by buyers. It is losing all meaning,” says Dorigo Jones, president of the Michigan attorneys’ association.