General Mills, maker of metal fragment-filled Wheaties, announces changes to legal terms that make consumers bound to arbitration

Sunday, April 27, 2014 by: Antonia
Tags: General Mills, arbitration, deceptive practices

(NaturalNews) Recent changes in the legal fine print of many popular General Mills products convey that merely downloading a coupon or clicking "like" on Facebook may keep consumers from having the right to sue. The change is based on the idea that a person who sues the company over products from a company in which he has previously shown an interest does not have a legal basis for his claims. Many refer to this change as "forced arbitration" and clearly have an issue with the changes.

My, the times are a changing as the saying goes.

Not only does the fine print state that if a consumer joins a social media community for a company or product, or even entered into a previous sweepstakes or contest, he would be forced to go to arbitration instead of being allowed to sue the company in full court, but General Mills' language also suggests that consumers are legally bound if they have used the company's products. "We've updated our Privacy Policy," the company says on its web site's home page. "Please note we also have new Legal Terms which require all disputes related to the purchase or use of any General Mills product or service to be resolved through binding arbitration."

Julia Duncan, director of federal programs and an arbitration expert at the American Association for Justice, says, "It's essentially trying to protect the company from all accountability, even when it lies, or say, an employee deliberately adds broken glass to a product."

Glass, shards of metal or, remember that not too long ago Natural News' very own Health Ranger Mike Adams brought to light the fact that Wheaties, a General Mills cereal, contained fragments of metal shards. Hmmm.

Now, it seems that the company, along with others who may follow suit and make changes to their legal terms, may be grasping at straws to make the case that a one-time positive reaction on Facebook or elsewhere should get them off the hook.

This concept isn't necessarily new. In 2008, the fast food restaurant Whataburger put a sign on its doors telling customers that the act of entering the restaurant meant that the customers agreed to go through arbitration to settle disputes.

These changes are spurring reaction on social media, including comments on the Cheerios Facebook page that says, "I'm not going to like this page. I do not agree to arbitration..." Others are fast to concur. Someone else said, "Sorry Bisquick. As much as I love you, I am now boycotting you because General Mills is a tool of the company."

Sources for this article include:

http://www.generalmills.com/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101592402

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

About the author:
A science enthusiast with a keen interest in health nutrition, Antonia has been intensely researching various dieting routines for several years now, weighing their highs and their lows, to bring readers the most interesting info and news in the field. While she is very excited about a high raw diet, she likes to keep a fair and balanced approach towards non-raw methods of food preparation as well. >>> Click here to see more by Antonia