Retail Anarchy: A Radical Shopper's Adventures in Consumption Book

A Rallying Cry for Reclaiming Consumer Power!

Publishers Weekly

From condescending ad campaigns to tricky math at the register, consumers may not realize everything they have to be upset about in the tanking economy. Self-trained economist Pocker, for one, is mad as hell, and thinks you should be too. In four wide-ranging "movements," Pocker tackles everything from Dollar General, Target and late electronics retailer The Wiz to Red Lobster and Coca-Cola to women's fashion and brand loyalty. Much of Pocker's observations are highly insightful, such as his story of ordering a Sausage McMuffin without egg and being charged for the egg anyway: "McDonald's would make an extra $95,000 a day simply... because nobody wants to look like a maniac demanding a nineteen-cent refund." Analysis of insulting marketing includes a Dominos Pizza-The Dark Knight promotion that gave pizza buyers online access to a movie trailer ("Apparently, no one at Dominos Pizza ever heard of YouTube"), and simple shopping tips ("complimentary alcoholic beverages... should present an enormous red flag") push back against retailer efforts to quash consumer common sense. Pocker is driven by crystal-clear X-ray vision and no shortage of indignant fury; the anger may not appeal to everyone, but Pocker's canny insight will resonate with any American shopper.
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