Consumers' Institute of New Zealand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Consumers' Institute of New Zealand is a non-profit organisation which was founded in 1959, and has the stated aim of "getting New Zealand consumers a fair deal". It is a member of Consumers International.
The Institute publishes a magazine (entitled Consumer), from which it derives the majority of its funding — it does not accept money in return for advertising in any form. It is governed by a board of 7 members who are elected once every 3 years. Subscription to either the magazine or its online counterpart (Consumer Online) constitutes membership of the Institute and eligibility for voting in the elections.
[edit] 2006 Rebranding
Earlier in the year the organisation re-branded itself as "Consumer" and launched revamped versions of Consumer magazine and its website www.consumer.org.nz. [1]
Critics point out that users of the Consumers Institute website, and readers of its re-branded magazine, are unaware that Consumer is essentially a commercial publisher generating profits as a private business. The publishing business generates profits through subscriptions. [2]
The 2006 re-branding also compounded confusion amongst the New Zealand public that the magazine is published by the New Zealand Governments Ministry of Consumers Affairs'. The ministry now has a disclaimer on their website site that reads “We don't publish Consumer magazine, it's published by the Consumers' Institute”[3]
