Jan 13 2009
truthiness
I’ve been snowed inside for yet another day, and therefore had a lot of time to spend with the internet. I have to believe, dear readers, that not all people who review things on their blogs are telling the complete and total truth. Since I’m not in the business of getting things for free and then writing about them, I can’t speak directly to the ethical dilemma of this, but can we all agree at least that there IS an ethical dilemma? In the spirit of truthiness, I give you some reviews of products that I really didn’t like. At all.
1. Seventh Generation dishwasher liquid. Truly awful. I normally rinse my dishes completely before loading them into the dishwasher so I can use the lightest wash (green tip!), but when I used this dishwashing liquid in my washer, everything was cloudy and somehow dirtier than when I put it in. How is this possible? I used this faithfully for two weeks and finally gave up and just dumped it out and recycled the bottle, feeling guilty all the while. What REALLY bugs me about this experience is that I’m totally soured on Seventh Generation…they’re too dang expensive to buy and then throw away because the don’t work.
2. Method Free & Clear Laundry Detergent. About 60% of the time, I didn’t have an issue with this product. My problem is, though, that it would randomly not get stuff clean, from baby clothes to underwear to socks, and then I’d waste my time SMELLING every single piece of laundry in that load and then re-washing some of it. I seriously gave this a solid run - I used it for about a year and then decided that sniffing half-clean socks was actually not how I wanted to spend my evenings and just bought concentrated Tide and vowed to recycle more.
3. Method Glass Cleaner. Streak city. And my mama made me wash thousands of windows in my day, so I know how to do it right. Again, used it several times on my windows and mirrors, then freecycled it off to some poor unfortunate soul.
So it turns out that Method brands are a total gamble. I love their Stainless Steel Cleaner, Granite Spray and Wood Cleaner but due to the above bad experiences am not sure if I want to shell out for their Toilet Bowl Cleaner or Baby Stuff. And you know what else? As I browse their site I’m reminded that like a YEAR AGO I sent a bunch of receipts in to get a free reusable shopping bag proclaiming my love for their products and the environment. They obviously have them in stock, as you can buy it on their site. Now I’m really irritated.
I think it’s entirely reasonable that people get discouraged buying environmentally friendly products when the DON’T WORK. Focus group these things, people! Don’t make me out you on my blog!
Yours, in truth.
