from Shop Talk:
Check Out Line: Duke wins, but there’s another bracket to fill
Check out a different kind of tournament bracket still underway.
The Duke Blue Devils may have won yet another college basketball title Monday night, but consumers can still make their "Sweet 16" picks in Consumerist.com's annual "Worst Company in America" tournament, which runs through April 26.
In its fifth year, the website, owned by Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, lets consumers vote for their least favorite companies in matchups much like the NCAA tournament. Starting with 32 "teams," the tournament pairs companies in votes in which the "winner" (think about it, in a worst company vote you want to lose) advances to face the next competitor.
In the first round this year, Bank of America beat Citibank, GM beat Toyota and in an "upset" Cash4Gold beat defending "champion" AIG. Other companies that advanced included Walmart, Ticketmaster, United Airlines, Best Buy, Apple and Comcast, which has lost in the title game the last two years.
In addition to AIG, past winners have included Halliburton, Recording Industry Association of America and Countrywide. In last year's final, AIG whipped Comcast 3,528 to 1,968 as voters took their frustration over the recession out on a company that was bailed out by the U.S. government.
"They were just constantly in the headlines," Consumerist.com co-managing editor Ben Popken said of AIG. "They became a real focal point for what went wrong with the economy."
Consumers nominate companies to compete in the annual tournament, which was created as a tongue-in-cheek way for shoppers to "bite back" using social media and the Internet, according to Consumerist.com. To be considered for inclusion the website now requires that companies must regularly provide products or services to consumers.
Guns n’ Roses rocks Best Buy, gently
After scoring one of the biggest exclusive deals in music retailing in a long while– or at least since Wal Mart snagged the exclusive for the new AC/DC opus “Black Ice” earlier this year– Best Buy began selling the long awaited new recording by Guns n’ Roses, “Chinese Democracy,” on Sunday.
But stepping down the escalator at the chain’s Chelsea story in New York City on Sunday, when a more than 17 year wait for original Guns n Roses material ended, it would have been easy to walk by the modest display box with the Chinese Democracy CDs and vinyl LP’s. There were few other signs of CDs being available, and the store was not blasting it on the P.A. system as a record store would have back in the old days.
It was a far cry from the scenes in 1991, when fans waited in long lines outside record stores in cities around the world for the band’s “Use Your Illusion” two-CD set.
But then again, 1991 was a long time before iTunes, Apple’s online music store, made its debut. While Best Buy has the exclusive on “Chinese Democracy” in actual stores, the 14-song set is available on iTunes too, unlike the AC/DC record which can only be bought at Wal-Mart stores (and to accommodate Wal-Mart free New York City, at MTV’s store in Times Square.)
And for all the quiet at the Chelsea store on Sunday afternoon, the new Guns n Roses is a clear early hit, with iTunes on Monday morning ranking it the #1 album in the U.S.
Either way, we’ll know how well the CD did both online and at Best Buy next week, when Billboard reports its debut on the record charts.
(Photo/Reuters)
It is nice to see GNR back. It was too long time since “Use Your Illusion”. This album is not that good, but still shows that Axel is back on the track.
