UK: Consumers black-list 2007’s worst companies

The world?s worst companies? According to the world federation of consumer organisations, Consumers International (CI), the winners of this year?s Bad Product Awards are Coca Cola, Kellogg?s and Mattel.

The overall prize, however, goes to Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a Japanese research-based multinational pharmaceutical company, for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children despite health warnings about paediatric use.

This year?s winners were announced during CI?s 18th world conference that is being held in Sydney this week, that brings together lobby groups from around 100 countries and includes delegates from 220 consumer groups.
Choice spokesman for CI, Christopher Zinn, explains that Bad Product Awards are given out to companies who have ignored their responsibilities to consumers. International Bad Product award nominees are submitted by CI member organisations, while the final four and the overall winner are chosen according to a set of criteria such as company size, the global scale of their sales and marketing, their impact on consumers, and the potential of actionable change by the corporation. But what does a company actually have to do to win a Bad Product award?

Coca-Cola this year earned its prize for continuing to market its bottled water, Dasani, as bottled water even after having admitted that it comes from the same source as tap water. Kellogg?s wins for marketing unhealthy food – cereals filled with sugar and salt – to children using cartoon-type characters and product tie-ins; while Mattel takes its prize for stonewalling US congressional investigations and avoiding responsibility for the global recall of 21 million products.

Richard Lloyd, Director General of Consumers International, said: "These multi-billion dollar companies are global brands with a responsibility to be honest, accountable and responsible. In highlighting their short-comings Consumers International and its 220 member organisations are holding corporations to account and demanding businesses take social responsibility seriously."

The Consumers International Conference will also be examining the marketing practices of drug companies, links between food marketing and obesity and consumer debt. Mr Lloyd highlighted that consumers need to know more about what they are buying. The bad product awards, he added, ?are all good examples of how consumers are being badly treated, ripped off or sold dodgy products".

More info:
www.consumersinternational.org