Girl unwraps iPod, finds heavy-handed social commentary instead

As the unfortunate trend continues, yet another kiddo has found their Christmas PMP replaced with something that's, well, not a PMP. In today's episode, we find a Washington, D.C. girl that unwrapped an iPod earlier this week and discovered that the only Apple product tucked within was the inner packaging. Instead, a clever note was stashed inside (presumably with a paperweight of some sort) that read: "Reclaim your mind from the media shackles. Read a book and resurrect yourself. To claim your capitalistic garbage go to your nearest Apple store." Oh, and just in case you really needed more than one guess as to where this thing came from, here's a hint: it was sold by the same retailer who passed on Wii demo units due to "safety" concerns.

[Via TUAW]

[R0B3RT @ Dec 29th 2007 8:04PM]

LOL thats nice. i wonder if they got another for free? did it have to pay again.

[Jason Cox @ Dec 29th 2007 8:14PM]

I dont know what you'd do in this situation if you were the business. You'd like to trust that the customer isnt lying to you and that they really were screwed over by some idiot but then again the iPod may be sitting on the customer's coffee table while they try to score a second (free) one. What are you to do?

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 29th 2007 9:27PM]

Obviously you would give the customer a new iPod. Even if they really are screwing you over, the cost of an iPod is much, much less for a major retailer than the negative feedback from not giving them the ipod.

[BigD145 @ Dec 29th 2007 9:29PM]

I've worked in retail returns and all you can do is guess. There are some standard lies and then there are strange truths like this. Personally? I like this gift. It's worth the money.

[Mike @ Dec 30th 2007 1:10AM]

Believe me it sucks to be in this situation. I bought a brand new Ipod Classic 80 GB on Friday night @ Walmart, shrink wrapped, nothing susipicious. I got out to the parking lot and into my vehicle and upon opening found it to be a beat to hell 20 GB Ipod, no accessories (headphones, USB Cable, etc.) included. I literally ran back into the store and had a big conversation with the manager 8 minutes after the time of purchase listed on the receipt. Upon "reviewing" my case he has come to the conclusion that it is somehow not Walmart's problem or responsibility and the product came from Apple and I need to deal with Apple myself from here on out. Needless to say I have let him know my feelings of not wanting to have to do Walmart's dirty work for selling me a product off of their own shelves, but until Monday when I can speak with a regional manager, all things are on hold. My anger and frustration cannot be expressed in words, but I will do everything in my power to fight this until the end.

[jilie @ Dec 30th 2007 4:54AM]

well said: apple = capitalistic garbage

[shamrock593 @ Dec 30th 2007 8:10AM]

How the hell does this happen?

Wow, this is really weird.

[Senor_Tom @ Dec 30th 2007 12:13PM]

when i first saw the picture i thought it may be a death threat 'cos the way it was printed. But how can this kinda thing happen. Surely you would know due to lack of complete packaging etc

[R0B3RT @ Dec 30th 2007 1:24PM]

ALL right good advice to all people open all items that are expensive in the store at the checkout counter so they have proof. Luckily i haven't had that trouble. But i always check in the store. when i bought my 360 this spring i looked through the flap to make sure. And i buy my ipods from apple cause i don't trust walmart.

[Zach @ Dec 30th 2007 7:53PM]

I wouldn't have left that store without calling the police in first and filing a report. Then, after that was said and no manager wanted to help, and no regional manager wanted to help - I'd file a story at every regional news area. THEN, I'd file a nice claim in small claims court and take the STORE to court. More then likely no one shows up and they're required to pay you. No store is allowed to fraud you just because of this laxness on returns.

[MEAT! @ Dec 29th 2007 8:06PM]

Ironic that someone who cannot spell "resurrect" correctly would tell someone else to go read a book.

[MEAT! @ Dec 29th 2007 8:08PM]

Oh, on second thought, sorry--the other "s" is caught in the angled paper. Ironic that I would choose to call a statement about reading ironic when I myself can't read.

[MEAT! @ Dec 29th 2007 8:10PM]

WAIT! NO! It _IS_ misspelled, even with another "s," which does nothing to improve it. Jesus. Irony really is cruel.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Dec 29th 2007 8:10PM]

the newspaper/magazine probably ran out of letters

[ProudWiiOwner @ Dec 29th 2007 8:43PM]

ha ha ha

i meself no can read non ur spill notin neither

[derX @ Dec 30th 2007 3:12AM]

Talking about irony, does anyone else find it to be hilarious that anti-capitalist propaganda found its way onto Engadget--perhaps the most well-known consumer electronics site?

[TazgodX @ Dec 30th 2007 9:52AM]

talk about irony, isn't it ironic that the same person who wrote this note is most likely sitting with this "capitalistic garbage" himself?

[Nick @ Dec 30th 2007 11:32AM]

how about the fact that he told the person to go read books.. which are produced and sold by corporations just as much as anything else in this world. Even if the person were to go out and get a book with all the differnt kinds of books that exist, just like music, its very easy to read books for the rest of your life and still not really gain any knowledge. The the book industry just like the music and film industry is full of fluff with the important intelligent pieces of literature in the minority.

The person who wrote this is a idiot. a PMP is just the delivery medium for an artists music, much like how publishers purchase paper from corporations to print books. Is this guy gonna go and protest paper?!?! Maybe the girl would have been listening to socially aware music, maybe not. But the person who pulled this stunt should stop looking down on others from over that high held nose and do something to "The Man", as he sees it, and not the worker ant. While he's dissing others for wanting "capitalist garbage" I find it funny that the guy used some abstract ransom/heroine font and printed this "independent free thinking manifesto" off of a computer.

What a douche!

[MEAT! @ Dec 30th 2007 1:22PM]

Waow, this is a thread of highly ranked goodness. Break the trend! Rank this low!

[derX @ Dec 30th 2007 3:25PM]

Dammit, that didn't work. I'll break the trend. I've got your back. Meat!.

I LOVE MEAT!

[MEAT! @ Dec 30th 2007 3:42PM]

I HATE YOU ALL! ENGADGET IS FOR UNBATHED NERDS! APPLE DOESN'T ROX LOLOLOLO1!

[OneLove @ Dec 30th 2007 5:55PM]

maybe he read a book on bad spelling.

[blarvh @ Dec 30th 2007 8:34PM]

but wil it play doom? :D

haha that so funn sorry i have to do,!
the ipod can run doom, paper not :D

i think it blends better hahahaaha

[neil @ Jan 4th 2008 2:48PM]

best string of comments ever.. i ranked up all 3

[MEAT! @ Jan 4th 2008 3:40PM]

Haha yeah, that was pretty fun; I didn't expect that.

[applefreak @ Dec 29th 2007 8:06PM]

I don't really like Wal-Mart

My first Mp3 player was from there, and it broke in 10.5-ish months

P.S. That player was replaced with a Samsung P2

[caubeck @ Dec 29th 2007 8:15PM]

oh, that's so relevant.

[applefreak @ Dec 29th 2007 8:23PM]

why yes, yes it was

Let me guess, u want a P2 also? :)

[mushrooshi @ Dec 29th 2007 10:00PM]

He doesn't.

I think the Devil wants to P2. P on You, that is.

Oh, and your fault for buying a Coby.

[David W. @ Dec 29th 2007 8:08PM]

Wouldn't it make more sense to do this with a video game console? There's nothing stopping you from listening to music while reading, in fact I rarely read without listening to music...but you obviously would have trouble reading while playing halo :P

gah, what an idiot

[Meltz @ Dec 29th 2007 8:33PM]

word to this. What if she was intending to listen to her iPod while reading? That's what i would do

[rumblerjon @ Dec 29th 2007 8:08PM]

Emo Kids.....

[caubeck @ Dec 29th 2007 8:11PM]

The thief had obviously been watching too much TV.

But I'm curious about the note itself. Can you buy a special font for this kind of letter?

[ssuk @ Dec 30th 2007 9:00AM]

It's called a typewriter.

[MashupMark.com @ Dec 30th 2007 3:10PM]

Its on fontmonster.com I can't remember its name, but its free to download and looks awful.

[Richard van Buren @ Jan 4th 2008 3:14PM]

From what I can see of it, it might be a font called "Ransom".

[Miike @ Dec 29th 2007 8:15PM]

Tyler Durden lives.

[producerism @ Dec 29th 2007 8:15PM]

best news article on engadget, ever. I hope there are thousands more out there waiting to be opened.

[L.M.L.Y.P @ Dec 30th 2007 2:01AM]

cant wait for more :)
one of my favorite engadget posts ever.

[computer.dude.28 @ Dec 29th 2007 8:15PM]

This is getting ridiculous...

[Andrew @ Dec 29th 2007 8:29PM]

Imagine the smuggling and laundering possibilities of this if it is so easy to pass things on via Walmart returns.

Hmm...

[Andrew @ Dec 29th 2007 8:30PM]

And I just read the article:

"Jay Ellis, the girls father, returned the ipod to the Germantown, Md. Wal-Mart store where he purchased it. The store manger told him that another customer returned an iPod with a similar issue."

It's happened to the same store more than once and the manager was lame enough to admit it.

-1 Walmart

[3rdsun @ Dec 30th 2007 8:39AM]

Hmmm... a brick of cocaine for a bricked 360. Just go to your local Walmart for the hook up. They wont know whats going on.

[Sauerkraut @ Dec 29th 2007 8:43PM]

That's what happens when you do drugs kids.

[Josh @ Dec 29th 2007 8:49PM]

pwned

[trevor @ Dec 29th 2007 8:49PM]

I just don't understand this sort of guerrilla activism. Encouraging culture through destructive, subversive means seems backwards. What if the retailer doesn't accept the return? Honestly, why should they, for reasons mentioned? This person could be out a lot of time and money, just because some huffy, anti-social art student felt like destroying property would make the world a better place.

Acts like this communicate anger, not enlightenment.

[Anthony @ Dec 29th 2007 9:05PM]

You think it is serious? I think it is just some punk thinking he was funny after stealing an iPod. Otherwise resurrect would be spelled correctly.

[seoultrain @ Dec 29th 2007 9:08PM]

yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Why not leave the ipod there, but add a note encouraging the buyer to return it? All you're doing is angering people. And stealing iPods.

[trevor @ Dec 29th 2007 9:19PM]

I don't know. I've met people who are willing and capable of intentionally doing stuff like this. They use the same rhetoric too, about the evils of media and books saving the world. The loud, extremist liberal collective (emphasis on extremist) regularly voices support for these sort of acts as well.

And just because someone is hopped up on a "progressive" ideology doesn't mean they have to know how to spell ;)

[Jackson @ Dec 29th 2007 9:17PM]

Engadget, of all places, criticizing someone for "heavy-handed social commentary"? In the very same post, you try to shove your anti-Wal-Mart rhetoric down our throats, in the same way you try to put some anti-establishment slant on every single article that gets posted. Between you guys and Joystiq, I'm not sure there's a bigger collection of dogshit writers on the planet.