Microsoft is taking its Scroogled campaign launched
last November in a new direction: merchandise. Now, consumers can purchase “Don’t Get Scroogled” products from the Microsoft Store with “Keep Calm While We Steal Your Data” and other messages.
Scroogled Products
An entire category of the store offers mugs, hats, t-shirts and even hoodies:
Microsoft Blogs The News
Interestingly, none of these products can be found if you search for “scroogled” or “google.” You have to know where to look. But it’s definitely aimed at consumers, because Microsoft points people at the “Scroogled Store” from its Scroogled blog, saying in a post today:
From the start, Scroogled has been dedicated to exposing Google’s violations of your privacy. We’ve shown you how Google goes through every single word of every single email sent to or from your Gmail account to target you with ads, how they serve up shopping results that are actually paid ads, how they share your contact information with app developers, how they monetize web searches that students do in school, and even how they say email users have no expectation of privacy. The list goes on and on. This has struck a chord. Millions of people have visited Scroogled.com and hundreds of thousands have signed the petitions to tell Google to stop violating their privacy. Now, there’s a new way for people to express themselves and their misgivings about Google – with Scroogled gear from the brand new Scroogled Store. The store is stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, hats, water bottles and more, all with a variety of fun graphics that help you tell the world that you’re tired of Google’s antics.
Some Of The Products
Here’s a close-up of the “Scroogled Keep Calm Mug,” on sale for $7.99. The product description reads:
Put 15-ounces of your favorite beverage into this stoneware mug to let the world know that even though Google is trying to make money on almost every aspect of your digital life, you’re still calm. And fully caffeinated.
Here is a picture of the front and back of the mug:
Here’s a look at the hat:
The “Word Cloud” t-shirt has these words:
Gulled. Humbugged. Buffaloed. Wire-tapped. Extorted. Sold out. Chicaned. Fleeced. Scammed. Conned. Surveilled. Double-dealt. Ensnared. Suckered. Sandbagged. Gossiped. Scandalmongered. Flimflammed. Skullduggered. Bamboozled. Hornswoggled. Beguiled. Cheated. Fooled. Double-crossed. Defrauded. Hoodwinked. Swindled. Duped.
As you can see below:
The Google Spider Web
shirt has this description:
“Google is the spider. Google services are the spider web. You’re the fly. You know what happens next.”
The “Keep Calm” shirt description says:
“Breathe in, breathe out. It won’t be long before Google has attempted to make money off of every aspect of your digital life. This t-shirt lets them know that you know.”
The “I’m Watching You” shirt has a Minecraft “Creepers gonna creep” reference:
Do you use Google Search? Or Gmail? Or Google Chat? Then Google is watching you…all the time. Creepers gonna creep. This t-shirt tells the story.
For more details on this campaign, see our Scroogled category.
Postscript (Jan 14, 2014): I ordered every item available to have on hand for, well, historical reasons:
The only thing that never came was the “Keep Calm” mug. Today, the Microsoft Store emailed me that:
I regret to inform you that the items on your order are backordered. As the product is end of life, no inventory will be replenished to fulfill your order. Your order will never ship, but you will also never be charged for the backordered products.
Several other products do continue to be offered, with a note that “All profits from the sale of Scroogled items have been donated to charity.”
Hat tip to 9to5google.com for spotting the mug and TechCrunch for spotting the entire category.
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