And the winner…oops, I mean losers are. Well, there are a few. Each year Consumers International publishes a list of winners of the Bad Product Award. You may have heard of The Consumers Union, the publishers of Consumer Reports, well… they re a member of Consumers International. From their website:
Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organizations in 115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere.
Wow!
During their annual convention in Sydney, Australia, CI announced the winners of this year’s competition.
1. Mattel for Recall of Toys
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CI says:
‘This is a classic case of avoiding accountability and shifting responsibility on a global scale. Wherever the fault lies, the safety of consumers was compromised and this should be the full focus of Mattel’s attention, not finger pointing and not blame dodging.’
2. Kellogg’s – advertising junk food for kids
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CI says:
‘CI is committed to stopping the marketing of junk food to children. Together with our membership we are campaigning for international restrictions on marketing to under 16’s, to give our children the chance of a healthy start’
3. Coca-Cola – repackaging tap water
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CI says:
‘Sustainable access to essential services, such as water, is a basic consumer right. By bottling up this universal resource to sell back to us, corporations, such as Coca-Cola have created a US$100 billion industry at a time when one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water. Making profits out of increasingly fragile water supplies is unsustainable, irresponsible and against the basic rights of consumers everywhere.’
4. Takeda Pharmaceuticals – advertising sleeping pills for kids
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CI says:
‘This case demonstrates the lengths to which some drug companies will go to increase sales of their products, how direct to consumer advertising can promote irrational drug use, and how weak regulation can foster irresponsible corporate behavior. This company is our overall award winner for irresponsible behavior for 2007.’
Keep watching out for us guys and… thanks!
by MC Milker
[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, environment, global, corporations, consumer protection[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by Al- Fassam, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
1 response so far ↓
Thimbelle // Nov 19, 2007 at 10:39 am
Sorry, but CI’s stand on the “repackaging of tap water” rings a little false to me.
Give me a break. We CHOOSE to buy it, thereby creating the industry! If we (as a nation, a culture, a society) would STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER then - trust me - Coca-Cola and all the other companies that bottle and sell water would stop selling it.
It really is that simple.
Has anyone at CI tried to buy an 8-track tape lately? You can’t. Why? There is no demand for it. Amazing how well Capitalism can work.
Don’t blame a company for rushing in to fill a “need” created by lazy consumers who can’t be bothered to re-use a dishwasher-safe water bottle. Educate the consumers; give them the tools (in this case, the reusable water bottles) so that they CAN help make the world a better place.
But CI shouldn’t just sit around pointing fingers, printing press releases, and acting pompous. If they are so committed to “building a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere” then they should DO SOMETHING. Besides just pointing fingers.
And, no - I have no affiliation with Coca-Cola, or any other producer of bottled water.
And, yes - at our house we all carry dishwasher-safe, reusable water bottles.
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