CHOICE Voice

You can view the presentation from Ina Wilken from the South African National Consumer Union, here.

Posted in Consumers International, Credit and debt Comments(0)

Want to read up on CI events in the news? Pharmaceutical marketing was the big topic of the day. Check out the following links to today’s headlines around the world:

Name and shame ‘bribed’ doctors – Melbourne Herald Sun, Australia
Drug firms try to bribe doctors with cars – Guardian Unlimited, UK
Drug companies attacked over gifts for [...]

Posted in CI in the media, Consumers International, Pharmaceutical marketing Comments(0)

Brock H Leach is the former chief innovation officer at PepsiCo and a member of PepsiCo’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Board on Health and Wellness. As such, he brings an interesting perspective to the discussion of corporate accountability and consumer action when it comes to the obesity pandemic. In order to come up with solutions to [...]

Posted in Consumers International, Obesity and food marketing Comments(0)

A list of delegates at the Congress and their organisations is here. It shows names and organisations only, and does not include any delegate that advised us they did not want to be included on the list.

Posted in Congress participation, Consumers International Comments(0)

Everytime we receive a drug prescription from our doctors, we trust that they have our best interest at heart. But how would we feel if we realise they have been showered with gifts by the companies that are selling the drugs to us?
One Indian doctor told Consumers International the following:
“On [...]

Posted in Consumers International, Pharmaceutical marketing Comments(0)

Agencies have contributed much besides simply money. Linda Burney, Minister for Consumer Affairs in NSW, gave the Congress a stimulating welcome speech. She was followed by Chris Pearce, Parliamentary Secretary to the Australian Treasurer, who identified several areas where the Australian government is working internationally to protect consumers.
In addition to the Commonwealth government and [...]

Posted in Consumers International Comments(0)

Coco-cola, Kellogg’s, and Mattel top the list of international brands guilty of abusing consumer rights, with Takeda Pharmaceuticals winning the overall prize for taking advantage of poor US regulation and advertising sleeping pills to children, despite health warnings about paediatric use.

The International Bad Products Awards has made news worldwide. Here are just some of [...]

Posted in Bad product awards, CI in the media, Consumers International Comments(1)

Moscow based consumer group KonfOP has been battling the unfair credit practices of the “Russian Standard Bank” – which has the second largest market share for consumer credit in Russia (and has the largest for a non government bank).
Dimitri Yanin of KonfOP tells me that until earlier this year the bank aggressively marketed credit to [...]

Posted in Consumers International, Credit and debt Comments(0)

A flowchart illustrating all the causes of obesity resembles the scrawling of an excited child.
“It’s absolutely accurate”, obesity expert Boyd Swinburn assures, “Because most things surrounding this global epidemic are interconnected.”
The illustration also brings home an important point – just because we know the determinants of a problem doesn’t mean it will lead us [...]

Posted in Consumers International, Obesity and food marketing Comments(2)

If you’ve spent sleepless nights worrying about the state of our planet, chances are you’re not alone. But as we furrow our brows with climate change concerns, how many of us can claim that we’ve taken meaningful action?
As Ed Mayo from UK’s National Consumer Council observes:
We can’t fight for our choices as consumers if [...]

Posted in Consumers International, Sustainable consumption Comments(0)