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I passed a transfer truck ( Lorry for you Brits ) today when I was driving home from work. The truck had a picture of perfume and a brand name on the side of the trailer ( Something I've never heard of that is probably mass produced for general consumption and sold in discount stores, nothing I'd wear ). In 5 inch high or so lettering, was a disclaimer that read pretty much like the following: " Advertisement only. Does not represent the actual cargo of truck".

I have to ask, why is this disclaimer necessary? I presume that anyone who is receiving the truck knows damn well what is inside it. Did the union demand the disclaimer because they didn't want to suggest they're drivers were carrying such "unmanly" cargo? Did they want to discourage roving bands of cheap perfume thieves?

Does anyone have any ideas?

It could have something to do with liability insurance. The idea being that attempts at theft are more likely when the contents are readily determined.

to deter the international ring of perfume thieves that has rocked the area would be my guess.

usernamesareannoying wrote:to deter the international ring of perfume thieves that has rocked the area would be my guess.

They're bad around here

High way bandits have to smell good

...or, perhaps, they were trying to make an extra buck by advertising the perfume on the truck, but the disclaimer was present so that, for whatever reason, nobody could claim that they were misrepresenting the contents of the trailer?

Eric

Because it starts random fourm topics, thus increasing publicity?

This from a country that had to start warning McDonald's customers that the content of their coffee cup was hot, sheesh

Workmens' vans in the UK usually have a label on the back door saying "No tools left inside overnight". It is to deter theft.

Yeah but the idea of that is to stop someone vandalising the van as it's empty, not to stop them from feeling that they were mislead

It makes you think more about the product and get sucked into buying it?

Wolfstan wrote:This from a country that had to start warning McDonald's customers that the content of their coffee cup was hot, sheesh

...and that the deep fried, greasy, fatty, salty, carb-loaded food they're selling us might make us *gasp* fat!

Eric

I’m guessing there was a meeting somewhere that had gone on an hour too long when someone raised the issue of what they were going to paint on their trucks. It was a trivial thing to tick off before they could all go home. Someone was showing them pictures and images on a projector… Powerpoint was probably involved in some way.

All of a sudden some double windsor knotted idiot, all too keen to make an impression, asked if it was possible if the perfume truck was to end up carrying something other than perfume? The reply was probably given with a combination of bafflement and annoyance, covered with excessive politeness; ‘Maybe, I guess’. The implied ‘but who cares?’ would be obvious to everyone but the double windsor knotted idiot, who would know follow up with the clever solution to the problem only he could see, ‘perhaps if each truck was labelled to point out it in fact didn’t contain perfume?’

It was obviously stupid, but it was also 6.45 at night, so no-one objected.

What worries me is what will happen if the lorry does carry perfume, and crashes.

Well, obviously, that stretch of road will smell like a Poofs Parlour for a while.

Will the lorry company be prosecuted for false advertising?

Kilkrazy wrote:Workmens' vans in the UK usually have a label on the back door saying "No tools left inside overnight". It is to deter theft.

As well as the ubiquitous I wish my girlfriend was this dirty. Ah, the comedic joys of exhaust dust.

Generally when you see a disclaimer like that someone has been sued for something related at some point. I love America

Elnicko5 wrote:Generally when you see a disclaimer like that someone has been sued for something related at some point. I love America

Or, like I pointed out above, some idiot somewhere with no legal knowledge thought they might get sued and took precautions to prevent something that couldn't happen.

I wouldn't quite say they would be an idiot to do that. A lot of lawsuits against major corporations are settled out of court because the plaintiff keeps re-suing the company and it ends up costing that company more money to defend themselves than it would to just pay the people. So to avoid that in the first place, better safe than sorry.