Orville Redenbacher and the Case of the Exploding Popcorn Bag
Orville Redenbacher: Delicious and deadly?
You never know when someone’s going to save your life. One day you’re just minding your own business, when suddenly someone shoves you out of the way of the proverbial bus. So if you’re a lover of all things warm, salty and kernel-based, this is your warning.
Your savior is a man who calls himself “Orville Red.” Last year, a bag of Mr. Red’s beloved Smart Pop caught fire, ruining his microwave. Mr. Red asked for a new microwave. What he got instead was a $30 gesture of “goodwill.” With his compensation denied, Mr. Red did what any aggrieved consumer would do: He brought his case to the people…
OrvilleRedenbachersux.com is Mr. Red’s magnum opus. The result of “a year of frustration, conversations and general disregard for corporate responsibility” on the part of Redenbacher-brand owner ConAgra.
“The broader purpose is to warn people that they can’t put popcorn bags in their microwave and not monitor them,” says Mr. Red. “Your house or dorm room could burn to the ground.”
Which all sounds a bit funny until you realize we’re dealing with ConAgra, producers of salmonella-infected Peter Pan, E. coli-infected ground beef and, worst of all, Slim Jims (shudder).
Could exploding popcorn bags be its next big-money lawsuit?
