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Razer Made a Million Dollars Selling a Mask With RGB, And the FTC is Not Pleased (theverge.com) 74

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Razer will have to fork over $1.1 million in refunds to customers who purchased its RGB-clad Zephyr face mask, according to a proposed settlement announced by the Federal Trade Commission on Monday. From a report: The company claimed the face mask used N95-grade filters, but the FTC alleges Razer never submitted them for testing and only "stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims."

Razer first released its Zephyr face mask in 2021 as a nifty, cyberpunk-esque alternative to traditional face masks worn during the covid-19 pandemic. Although Razer initially marketed the $100 mask as having N95-grade filters, it scrubbed any mention of the grade after YouTuber Naomi Wu tore down the mask and found that it wasn't N95 certified after all. N95 masks are supposed to filter out at least 95 percent of airborne particles, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Razer also planned on launching a $150 Zephyr Pro with a voice amplification feature, but that never panned out. At the time, Razer addressed claims about its Zephyr masks, saying in a post on X that "the Razer Zephyr and Zephyr Pro are not medical devices, respirators, surgical masks, or personal protective equipment (PPE) and are not meant to be used in medical or clinical settings."
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Razer Made a Million Dollars Selling a Mask With RGB, And the FTC is Not Pleased More

Razer Made a Million Dollars Selling a Mask With RGB, And the FTC is Not Pleased

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  • You are obviously not using the accepted definition of RGB, so this summary makes no sense. Give us a fucking clue, please.

    • Re:Translation please (Score:5, Informative)

      by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @11:58AM (#64433116)

      You are obviously not using the accepted definition of RGB, so this summary makes no sense. Give us a fucking clue, please.

      Actually, they are. It's got lights in it that can use RGB spectrums. It's uber expensive for a face mask. And it was never submitted for testing, so their claim that it was N95 certified is bunk.

      I know the editors tend to suck donkey dong on your average article summary, but this one actually made sense and, believe it or not, used standard conventions to convey info. I know. I was shocked when I looked at the article and realized it actually was what my brain would expect when reading the summary. Who know they could let one slip through from time to time?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Tim the Gecko ( 745081 )

        this [summary] actually made sense and, believe it or not, used standard conventions to convey info.

        The phrases "mask with RGB", and "RGB-clad" might make some sense in the original article, where there's a big photo showing colored lights. From just a text summary, I was wondering if there was some new thing I'd never heard of: novel filter material? forever chemical?

        • My first guess was it was some sort of mask made to look like Ruth Bader Ginsburg or had miniature versions of her face on it.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by hawk ( 1151 )

            Nah, it's for the knockoff with a mail-order law egerree, Rube Gader Ginsburg . . .

        • Context matters.

          If you see the name "Razer" and "RGB" together in a sentence, the context tells you they are talking light emissions in a selectable color hue, which serve no purpose except to test lifetime battery cycle count and annoy everyone around you.

          • Read the summary and assume it had some sort of OLED covering it to display any image or text you wanted. Looking at it, it seems somewhat cheap in comparision, like those silly mice, keyboard, and game controllers with LED highlights that most people turn off as too annoying. Oh wait, Razer makes those things, so it's just a matter of molding the plastic differently and becoming annoying in a brand new field.

            As for lying about N95, lying is just standard business practice. Get away with it and hope you'

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by jmke ( 776334 )
            exactly, these people need to hand in their nerds badges. Everybody knows that adding RGB to any product makes it 10% faster and work better.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by gnunick ( 701343 )

          this [summary] actually made sense and, believe it or not, used standard conventions to convey info.

          The phrases "mask with RGB", and "RGB-clad" might make some sense in the original article, where there's a big photo showing colored lights. From just a text summary, I was wondering if there was some new thing I'd never heard of: novel filter material? forever chemical?

          I actually looked at the article before posting. Most of the mask isn't very colorful, and the few spots of light hardly seemed to count. So but I refused to believe that's what they meant unless they were going to say it. Call it a "color-changing Mask" or "Mask with pulsating colors" or whatever it was supposed to do.

          I suppose it might look less lame in the dark? Ha! Who am I kidding?

          It would be a lot less lame if it was actually an efficacious filter.

      • They are, but the summary is also a bit misleading. The fact that they are adorned with RGB lighting is completely irrelevant to the story or why the FTC cares.

        No need to even mention RGB. Just: Razer falsely advertises face masks as N95 and FTC is not pleased

        • They are, but the summary is also a bit misleading. The fact that they are adorned with RGB lighting is completely irrelevant to the story or why the FTC cares.

          No need to even mention RGB. Just: Razer falsely advertises face masks as N95 and FTC is not pleased

          In the modern age you can not mention a product without mentioning it's biggest selling point. Why people wanted to stop LEDs to their face is a question that can only be answered by marketing folks, but hey, it's a thing.

          • Because Razer was extending the fad that was driving sales: putting selectable RGB lighting on literally every damn thing, especially if it made no sense at all.

            • Because Razer was extending the fad that was driving sales: putting selectable RGB lighting on literally every damn thing, especially if it made no sense at all.

              Gamers love LEDs. LED keyboards. LED Mice. LED Cases. LED fans. LED heatsinks. LED Memory modules. LED EVERYTHING!

              Meanwhile those of us just looking for performance have to wade through the LED forest looking for decent spec hardware that won't blind us if we like to sit in a dark room recording or writing late in the evening.

        • The fact that they are adorned with RGB lighting is completely irrelevant to the story

          No it's not. The story is about an shoddy company known for products where the only "feature" is the RGB lighting doing that for masks as well. The fact that these masks are overly expensive, and cladded with unnecessary bullshit like RGB is quite relevant in the context of not getting a simple filter certified.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Zak3056 ( 69287 )

        And it was never submitted for testing, so their claim that it was N95 certified is bunk.

        The summary suggests they never claimed it was certified N95. They claimed they used "N95 grade filters" (which was, apparently, true in that the filter material would block 95% of particles). They never claimed the mask itself was "certified" in any way.

        I'm sure the droid that wrote the copy was probably using "N95 grade filters" in the exact same way that advertisers use the phrase "military grade encryption" to refer to 56-bit DES--technically true, but meaningless and misleading.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 )

        "RGB" is not a synonym for "Colored LED lights."

    • I tried reading the linked article.

      They should have gone with CMYK.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by chill ( 34294 )

      Yes, they are, which is the problem. Razer slapped some RGB LEDs on a mask and sold it.

  • No reasonable person would expect a clownish RGB-festooned facial covering to filter viruses. Just like the N95, it's only useful against much bigger particles. Never forget the words of Pfizer's best friend, flippy-floppy Fauci [youtube.com].

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by GoTeam ( 5042081 )
      Heh, I'd forgotten about that comment from that clown. Thanks for sharing.

      • Yes, difficult to believe that advice changed after more data and studies on the virus was made available. Fauci worked for the government for decades and started out with the Reagan administration. Working for Reagan alone should give him a permanent pass with the MAGA Qult.

        • "Working for Reagan alone should give him a permanent pass with the MAGA Qult."

          You apparently haven't gotten the word: MAGA and QAnon despise Reagan and everything he stood for and the people who set policy during his administration, although sometimes they're coy about admitting it.

        • Fauci worked for the government for decades and started out with the Reagan administration.

          You have to understand, Dr. Fauci spent his entire life waiting for the moment he could annoy the MAGA cult with how the scientific process works. It was his triumphal moment. Forget all the research he's done. Forget the papers he's written. Forget all the experiene he's accumulated over the decades. Everything led to the triumphal moment he got people to wear a mask for a few minutes once a day just to anno

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            by taustin ( 171655 )

            You have to understand, Dr. Fauci spent his entire life waiting for the moment he could annoy the MAGA cult with how the scientific process works.

            Was that when he admitted to lying his ass off early on to frighten people? Is that how the scientific process works these days? Cuz it sure seems like it is.

            • Re:but it filters viruses same as the others (Score:5, Insightful)

              by MachineShedFred ( 621896 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @01:50PM (#64433466) Journal

              So you don't see the value in being overly cautious when dealing with a novel and unknown wildly infectious disease with the proven ability to cause death in a immunologically significant percentage of the population? And you similarly don't see the value in revising those cautions as more data comes in?

              You sound like kind of a moron, who's never dealt with an emergent situation with severe risks where every single thing isn't already known.

              • There are the people who never leave their homes when a flood comes, and then push away rescuers when they show up in boats. Some of those people were also deep Covid deniers. Some of whom died after refusing hospital treatment, or checking themselves out of the hospital to avoid getting injected with nanotech.

                Some people are just stupid. However modern science, medicine, and technology is doing wonders to prevent the natural Darwinian process from taking place.

                Remember, covid-19 had a ten times higher de

              • So you don't see the value in being overly cautious when dealing with a novel and unknown wildly infectious disease

                Naw, don't worry about it. It's like when you're not sure if there's a round in your gun. Just look down the barrel.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by taustin ( 171655 )

                The blind, stupid panic over COVID, and the massive economic and psychological damage done by it, and the ongoing complete lack of faith in people who should know what they're talking about is a real life example of The Boy Who Cried Wolf [wikipedia.org].

                Fauci pretty conclusively demonstrated that he ceased being a scientist, and became an administrator, long ago, then he evolved into being an attention whore, and whether he was right or wrong ceased to matter because people stopped paying attention to him (including polit [newsweek.com]

        • Except that if ol' Ronny Reagan was alive today, he'd be painted as a RINO and trashed across the media landscape. After all, he signed amnesty for "illegals" in the 80s which is tantamount to treason and suborning foreign invasion if you believe what those fucking clowns are saying about the border today.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by ne0n ( 884282 )
          The more data gathering and studies are done, the less Fauci's statements align with anything approaching scientific inquiry. Historically, Fauci's been wrong on HIV, AIDS, AZT, masks, coronaviruses, mRNA jab safety and efficacy, and the list goes on.

          If you want sociopathy [huffpost.com] to be excused by partisan politics, you're part of the problem.

        • Reagan is a RINO these days. All past Republican presidents are now despised by MAGA except one. That should tell you something.

    • The definition of reasonable person has been revised downwards.

      I suspect most people bought these to flip the bird to the worthless mask culture.

      At least now we know forever that paper masks don't do a damn thing for viruses and N95's only work a little for trained wearers.

      I'm still seeing mask litter in ditches everywhere. Mass hysteria.

      • You do know that the COVID virus particles don't survive outside of small aerosolized droplets, right?

        And those droplets are a hell of a lot bigger than the virus particles, and are easily stopped by masks?

        And that the masks were meant to stop EXHALATION of those droplets, which is why surgeons and nurses wear them during surgery, and not the patient?

        Stop moving the goalposts. Or, at least be honest with what the process actually was, rather than making up your own target and then laughing when it's missed

        • Ah, but before covid, the only people who wore masks when they or a family member was ill were east Asians; ie, Chinese. Sadly some political wingnuts brought this up as a reason to NOT wear masks, since only commies wore them. And then the requirement by some businesses to use masks immediately pissed of the "my freedumbs!" people who refuse to let any other person tell them what to do except for DJT.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by pjt33 ( 739471 )

            Japanese people are also east Asians, and the use of masks as a measure against respiratory diseases has been common in Japan since the 1918 'flu. I may have missed some major event, but I don't think that Japan has a communist government (although I do recognise that the word has a somewhat *ahem* different meaning in the USA to the rest of the world).

            • I'm not saying I agree with the rationale, but I definitely read people online making that connection of masks with Chinese. I guess pointing to idiots and laughing also makes me an idiot, so fair point.

    • No reasonable person would expect a clownish RGB-festooned facial covering to filter viruses.

      Just as a reminder, face masks don't filter viruses. They filter the small droplets which carry the viruses.

      Which is, for example, why surgeons wear them in operating rooms.

      Just like the N95, it's only useful against much bigger particles.

      Exactly. That was the confusion early on in the pandemic, people not understanding that if you filter out the droplets, the viruses are filtered out with them.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      N95 provides decent protection against some viruses, particularly those transmitted by spit that naturally comes out of your mouth when you talk. Ideally though you want N99 or FFP3 (basically the same thing), which will block even airborne virus particles. These days you might as well get one with a valve to make breathing a little easier.

      Another good defence is UV light. Now we have safe 232nm lamps we could really use it a lot more. You can buy them for yourself, but they aren't cheap.

  • This FTC is different (Score:5, Insightful)

    by linuxguy ( 98493 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @12:33PM (#64433228) Homepage

    Say what you will about govt. depts. This FTC is probably the busiest we have seen in recent memory. Lina Khan kicks ass!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by taustin ( 171655 )

      Mostly doing thing that will get challenged in court, and mostly struck down as overreach.

      But it's an election year, and the Democrats are pretty desperate.

      • Re:This FTC is different (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @01:19PM (#64433354) Homepage

        But it's an election year, and the Democrats are pretty desperate.

        The company lied. The FTC called them on it. Barely even news, and certainly not about to change any election results.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by taustin ( 171655 )

          Hence, "mostly," not "always."

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          What a lie though. If people relied on it being N95 and it wasn't, they could potentially have caught a disease that they should have been protected against. This product was released during COVID.

          If the FTC fine is all they get then they will have gotten off lucky. There is potential liability for health damage, up to and including death, difficult as causation would be to prove.

      • It's telling when you think that an agency that only exists to be a consumer advocate is somehow "politically desperate" because they're fulfilling their charter of consumer advocacy.

        You're fine with companies making claims about products that aren't true? You think there shouldn't be any legal consequences or accountability for making false claims about a product?

        Take off your partisan-colored glasses and see this for what it was: a company made a product that didn't meet up with their own marketing, and

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by taustin ( 171655 )

          It's telling when you think that an agency that only exists to be a consumer advocate is somehow "p

          It's more telling that you believe (I won't abuse the word "think") that the FTC, after decades of, at best, tepid enforcement, suddenly, magically begins a rash of enforcement against companies that are unpopular among voters who lean left, with timing that guarantees a lot of press coverage when they're filed, but that won't go to court until after the election, and that all that is anything other than electioneering.

          Mostly, what it's telling me isn't very complimentary to you.

          • So an agency actually starts doing their job, and you:

            1. think that's a bad thing for some reason; and
            2. think it should stop; and
            3. think it's because of politics, rather than a government agency just trying to do their job properly.

            That's not very complimentary to you, because you're literally defending companies that scam their customers with fraudulent products.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by taustin ( 171655 )

              So an agency actually starts doing their job, and you:

              Note the timing vis a vis the election, and the likelihood that a lot of what it's doing is going to be struck down by the courts - after the election, and reach an inevitable conclusion.

              You, of course, parrot that talking points your masters have given you. Good little sheeple, well trained.

              • We have meaningful elections every 2 years at the federal level.

                When is anything not confirmation-biased to have "timing vis a vis the election" exactly, with that frequency, and the speed at which civil litigation moves?

                Stop accusing the government of some kind of partisan garbage when they actually do things they are supposed to do, but they happen to be things you don't agree with. And also: maybe figure out why you have some kind of deranged attitude towards effective government that actually enforces

          • magically begins a rash of enforcement against companies that are unpopular among voters who lean left

            This article is about Razer.
            Also, politics isn't a binary function in the brain, even though most propaganda is delivered this way. I can find common ground within a variety of different platforms. Unsuccessfully distilling entire systems of personal beliefs into a few catchphrases has led to mass discord, and it pains me to see it proliferated in nearly every single political discussion.

      • Mostly doing thing that will get challenged in court

        Literally every idiot challenges everything in court if there's a chance they can get out of it. What you're saying isn't some kind of outrage or evidence that there's anything wrong with the FTC's current approach.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by linuxguy ( 98493 )

        > Mostly doing thing that will get challenged in court, and mostly struck down as overreach.
        > But it's an election year, and the Democrats are pretty desperate.

        It almost sounds like you are recommending they not do anything at all about the fraud perpetrated on consumers.

        And because members of certain "other team" did it, it automatically becomes wrong.

  • ...the same crowd that consumes crates of energy drinks & trades in cryptocurrencies. I like their laptops but could never bring myself to be seen with one. Maybe cover up the logos & distinctive "design features" somehow? I once had a Hackbook Pro & ended up having to cover the Apple logo with foil & a Ubuntu sticker to keep the Apple fanbois away. Ubuntu users are far more discreet & respectful.

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