Winners and Controversy. Because what's a blog post without a little variety?

Before I get into the juice of this post, let's announce the WINNERS of my Bob Harper Inside Out Method DVDs giveaway, shall we?

There were eleven entries for the strength DVD.

With a little help from random.org...

Congratulations, Alyssa! Maybe after mastering this DVD you'll be able to climb that rope ladder; no problem.

Thirteen people entered to win the Cardio DVD.

Random.org liked lucky number six...

Way to go, Autumn1329. Now you can continue to be a weather wuss and still get your cardio in this Winter. Send me an email (hinkle.emily[at]gmail.com) with your mailing address and I'll ship that out to you!

And now onto the story of why I will no longer be pining after Lululemon clothing (yes, I completely  changed my mind about them in less than 24 hours). After yesterday's post, I was alerted that they've been in the news lately and that I should check it out before deciding I want any of their products. And so, as a good little consumer, I did. And I'm horrified.

The first article I found is titled: Murder at Lululemon: Yoga's "Heart of Darkness"?  This is where I started to get worried. Basically, one Lululemon employee stabbed and bludgeoned another to death...inside a Lululemon store. 

It would be tempting to dismiss the savage murder—Norwood stabbed and bludgeoned Murray an estimated 330 times over the course of 20 minutes, severing her spinal cord—as a bizarre and random event. That's surely what the Canadian-based Lululemon, which seems to have nine lives when it comes to recurring scandal and controversy, is hoping for.

When I got to the "recurring scandal and controversy" part. That's when I was intrigued. Is it all this bad? Why are they still in business?

The article goes on to say that the former CEO Chip Wilson came up with the name "Lululemon" because he enjoyed making fun of the Japanese, and he knew it would be difficult for them to pronounce. And then in 2005, he announced that the company would begin using child labor and "sweat shops" in China. (Check out that link for more atrociousness.) 

Holier than thou, Chip Wilson.
(If he came put his nasty feet on my couch, he'd be eating it).

That was 2005. One year later, in 2006, yet another controversy. Lululemon started selling a line of bags said to be made with seaweed fiber, which, they boasted, offered health advantages to the consumer, including stress reduction. Skeptical, the New York Times sponsored lab tests and found there was no seaweed in the bags. Executives of the company refused to apologize.

There was no difference, in fact, between the Lululemon bags and other bags made of cotton - except that Lululemon's, of course, were a lot more expensive.

Apparently the company has also disseminated several ads poking fun at its customers. Now that's smart. They even produced shopping bags with controversial messages on them. Who wouldn't want to buy overpriced workout clothing from a company that makes fun of, and then offends them? Sign me up!

 

Who needs ethics when you've got a shit-ton of money, right? Never again, Lululemon. Never again.