CHOICE's 9th annual Shonky Awards showcases and shames Australia's most misleading, shoddy and unsafe products.
CHOICE, the consumer watchdog has been naming and shaming these dangerous or misleading Shonky products for the past nine years. This information serves as an important reminder... LESS IS MORE , don't waste your money on shonky products that will inevitably end up in landfill or contribute unnecessarily to your carbon footprint.
- Reduce what you buy and always ask: Do I really need this?
Estimated CO2 Saving: 17kg per month (200kg per year)
- Do shopper research on carbon footprint before you buy
Estimated CO2 Saving: 17kg per month (200kg per year)
Here's the dishonourable mentions that just missed out on being part of the CHOICE shortlist:
Fantastic “Gluten Free” Rice Crackers:
What they aren't telling you is Fantastic's regular rice crackers don't contain gluten either. So what you see here is the same rice crackers as normal, with fancy and bigger writing on the box! That means they are producing an entire, unnecessary line of crackers when the originals would meet the consumer demand. Imagine all the wasted resources!
Coles “Fresh Baked” Bread
The Australian Federal Court found certain bread products advertised by Coles as "Freshly baked in store" were actually sometimes produced months before in other countries.Purchasing these kinds of products creates a huge and unnecessary increase to our carbon footprint!
And here are some of the finalists!
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
Amazon's kindle readers are supposed to be popular for their long lasting battery lives, however, it turns out the claims on superior battery are doubtful. Amazon states that the device's battery lasted for eight weeks in-between charges. However, it's revealed in the small print that the figure was based on a daily usage amount of just 30 minutes. CHOICE explains this well by stating, this is like a lollipop that claims it lasts a whole month, but only if you lick it once a day.Make sure you are doing your shopper research to find the best product for your needs, otherwise there is a big chance that product will end up in landfill.
S26 Gold Toddler and Junior powdered milk:
S26 received a Shonky award for guilt-tripping parents into buying completely unnecessary products for they kids. The company wants to "Keep mums buying with our extended range of nutritious milk drinks", however, it is confirmed by a vast majority of nutritionists that formula isn't necessary for children over the age of one.Another unnecessary product using valuable resources to create.
Kmart Swimwear
The perfect example of fast fashion and it's wasteful nature. Thinking about buying a cheap swimsuit from Kmart? Maybe not, unless you want the whole world to see your naked body. What most people don't know is that Kmart's new swimwear carries a range of highly restrictive disclaimers. The things to avoid while wearing your new Kmart swimsuit: water (moisture makes them see-through), suntan lotion (this degrades the material and heated pools or spas. So, there really isn't much you can do in these swimsuits... shonky!
Vorwerk/Thermomix
The Thermomix's product upgrade is unprecedented, apparently, it received more Shonky nominations from the public than any other product in the history of the awards. This received a Shonky award because the company sneakily put out a new upgrade without any information to the public that this was happening. The upgrade was only $50 more than the original. Some customers only bought their Thermomix merely days before the new one came out, not knowing anything.
Moves like this encourage a society to buy more, which puts a terrible strain on our planets resources.
Marketing scams are everywhere, which is why researching and thinking about what you buy is so important. Shonky products contribute greatly to the world's consumerist problems and should be avoided at all costs.