Many of my friends have posted this picture of a warning label on a doormat on Facebook and tagged me in it because they know I love wacky warnings. This one definitely qualifies as wacky, but intentionally so.
All of the comments mention how hilarious it is. It is amusing, but I have a different take on it. I think it’s a ridiculously dumb warning from a legal standpoint.
I concede that doormats are not very dangerous, and the probability of them causing injury is low. Admittedly, it’s not quite like putting funny warnings on a chainsaw or ladder.
However, people have sued over, for example, a slippery doormat that was advertised as “non-slip,” which doesn’t appear to be the case here. As any tort lawyer or professor can attest, in tort law, the worst than can possibly happen often does.
Why take the chance at all? Just suppose, hypothetically, that this doormat slipped on the floor, causing someone to fall and suffer a broken hip. Can you imagine the field day the plaintiff’s lawyer would have examining the corporate representative?
Plaintiff’s lawyer: So you believe that labels warning consumers of risks of your products are, literally, a joke. Isn’t that true?
Company representative: Homina, homina, homina … (picture Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners).
Or what if the company sells other products that are more dangerous and gets sued for a defective warning on one of them? This attempt to be amusing on their doormat warning might still come back to bite them.
It simply makes zero legal sense to treat product warnings as a joke, no matter how low the risk of a product causing harm is perceived to be.
Sorry to say but warning labels are made for STUPID people. Tell ya what remove all warning labels and allow natural selection to do its job. If some idiot is to stupid to realize using an electronic device in water is bad the need to be removed from the gene pool. nough said