Everything about Consumer Organizations totally explained
Consumer organizations are
advocacy groups that seek to protect people from
corporate abuse. Unsafe products,
predatory lending,
false advertising,
astroturfing and
pollution are all examples of corporate abuse.
Consumer organizations may operate via
protests,
campaigning or
lobbying. They may engage in
single-issue advocacy (for example, the
British Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which campaigned with great success against
keg beer and for
cask ale). or they may set themselves up as more genralized consumer
watchdogs, such as the
Consumers' Association in the
UK.
One common means of providing consumers useful information is the independent comparative survey or test of products or services, involving different manufacturers or companies (for example,
Which?,
Consumer Reports, etc.).
Another arena where consumer organizations have operated is
food safety. The needs for campaigning in this area are less easy to reconcile with their traditional methods, since the scientific, dietary or medical evidence is normally more complex than in other arenas, such as the electric safety of
white goods. The current standards on
mandatory labelling, in developed countries, have in part been shaped by past lobbying by consumer groups.
The aim of consumer organizations may be to establish and to attempt to enforce
consumer rights. Effective work has also been done, however, simply by using the threat of bad publicity to keep companies' focus on the consumers' point of view.
Consumer organizations my attempt to serve consumer interests by relatively direct actions such as creating and/or disseminating market information, and prohibiting specific acts or practices,or by promoting competitive forces in the markets which directly or indirectly affect consumers (such as transport, electricity, communications, etc.)
Consumer organizations in various countries
Australia
Consumers' Federation of Australia
Australian Consumers Association
Botswana
Consumer Watchdog
Germany
Stiftung Warentest
Öko-Test
Italy
Consumers' Associations in Italy
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Enterprise Act 2002 allows consumer bodies that have been approved by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to be designated as "super-complainants" to the Office of Fair Trading. These super-complainants are intended to, "strengthen the voice of consumers," who are "unlikely to have access individually to the kind of information necessary to judge whether markets are failing for them." Eight have been designated as of 2007:
Which? - formerly the Consumers Association - a consumer advocacy organisation which has substantial powers (for example to take representative actions under the Competition Act 1998) but which is primarily a lobbying organisation funded entirely by subscriptions to its regular consumer information magazine.
National Consumer Council
The Citizen's Advice Bureau, a free service that provides legal advice, practical help and information on consumer rights across the country.
Postwatch
CAMRA - a lobbying group concerned with the tradition and quality of beer.
General Consumer Council of Northern Ireland
Consumer Direct
United States
American Consumer Institute
Better Business Bureau
Consumers Union, publishers of Consumer Reports
Public Citizen
Consumer Federation of America
Center for Science in the Public Interest (food/nutrition)
National Consumers League
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Consumer Complaint Form, Federal Trade Commission
Further Information
Get more info on 'Consumer Organizations'.
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