The Real Final Four

The Final Four is here this weekend, and the country is excited to see who will be in Monday’s national championship game. Whatever happens in the Final Four games, the championship game is going to be a traditional powerhouse (UConn or Kentucky) vs. a lesser-known underdog (VCU or Butler). Believe me, I’ll be watching the games, but there’s another annual tournament filled with traditional powerhouses that I’m even more excited to see the outcome for: The Consumerist Worst Company in America 2011.

It’s down to the Sweet 16, and all the heavy favorites like Walmart, Comcast, Ticketmaster and BP are still in the running. To try and avoid a repeat Worst Company in America title, Comcast has even gone as far as to send out an email to its employees to vote for the other companies. But this year it's anyone’s game. Between the reputation of Bank of America and the oil spills produced by BP, there are some heavy hitters in line for this title.

It will be especially exciting from a PR standpoint to watch how the winning company responds to a Worst Company in America title. Will they acknowledge their downfalls and strive to do better, will they criticize the Consumerist for such a petty ploy to disgrace a company or do they just sit back and act like nothing happened? We’ll find out soon. 

So fill out those brackets and cast your votes, you decide the winner. I’ve got Walmart, Ticketmaster, BP, and AT&T in my Final Four this year, with BP squeezing out a victory over Ticketmaster in the championship. But in the end, we consumers are the losers. With little to no real competition, these companies that we gladly laugh at and call the worst are the one’s laughing all the way to the bank.

-Matt