REPORT - Consumer Advice

DCA-GTZ Project 

CONSUMER PROTECTION AND 

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION 

IN INDIA 

REPORT 

of 

Workshop on 

“Comparative Testing of Products and Services 

and Dissemination of Test Results” 

at 

India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 17 th & 18 th June 2010 

by 

Heike van Laak 

Head of the Press Department Stiftung Warentest 

Project Address: 

GTZ-ASEM Project 

"Consumer Protection 

and Sustainable Consumption in India" 

12/2, Jamnagar House 

Shahjahan Road 

New Delhi - 110011 

Phone: +91 11 230 708 57 

Fax: +91 11 230 708 57

Table of Contents 

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 

2 INTRODUCTION 2 

2.1 Participants 2 

2.2 Summary of the workshop 2 

Annex1: Presentation „How to reach more people with Comparative 

Testing" 

Annex2: List of participants of the workshop 

Annex3: Short tables and test-Dienst from Stiftung Warentest (to show 

how Stiftung Warentest produces short versions of their test 

results to be printed in newspapers and magazines as well as 

short versions of the editorial reports (test-Dienst) to be printed 

in other media as well. Short tables and test-Dienst are free of 

charge for newspapers and magazines. This could be copied by 

the Indian Consumer Organisations to disseminate their test 

results and cooperate with the media in order to become better 

known) 

Annex4: Photo Gallery 

i

1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The situation in India resembles the one Stiftung Warentest in Germany 

faced at the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s. In Germany 

Stiftung Warentest was given a budget by the Government to provide 

impartial and objective support for consumers by means of comparative 

investigations of products and services. The test results were published in 

the monthly published magazine "test". But German Consumers were not 

familiar with test magazines and not very many people knew about "test". 

The situation in India today is very similar. There are three consumer 

organisations but few people know about their work or buy their 

publications. For Stiftung Warentest this meant and for Indian Consumer 

organisations this means that: 

• Valuable content is not enough 

• Effective launch promotion is essential 

• Through mass-media you can reach the critical mass 

• Editorial reports have a higher credibility than advertising 

• 5..Editorial reports are much cheaper than advertising 

• It is necessary, that mass-media do not only publish the test results, but 

also stories about the work of the consumer organisations in order to 

convince the public that they can rely on those results. 

Consumer organisations and media know very little about how the other 

side works and on the part of the consumer organisations what is needed 

to get attention from the media. We came to the conclusion, that the press 

work has to be carried out more professionally and the person responsible 

to do so should not have other duties within the organisation. 

As Head of the Press Office at Stiftung Warentest in Berlin, Ms Heike van 

Laak, offered that person could come to Berlin and be trained for i.e. two 

weeks at our press office. 

1

2 INTRODUCTION 

In many countries Comparative Testing of products and services has 

proved to be one of the key instruments to remove information asymmetries 

between consumers and industry, to help consumers to make the right 

choice and to ensure effective competition for quality across different 

sectors. In India there are two organizations with substantial experience in 

comparative testing: Consumer Voice (VOICE) in Delhi and Consumer 

Education and Research Center (CERC) in Ahmedabad. As an additional 

organisation CONCERT in Chennai is in the process of building up 

capacities for comparative testing as well. However, the number of 

consumers those organisations reach is marginal in relation to the number 

of consumers in the country. 

The three organisations participated in a training workshop at Stiftung 

Warentest in Berlin in March 2010 and it was agreed to organise a followup 

workshop in India focussing on how to leverage comparative testing 

through media relations and cooperate with mass media. 

The workshop was prepared and conducted by Ms. Heike van Laak, Head 

of the press office at Stiftung Warentest in Berlin, and was also used to 

discuss and agree on a cooperation structure for existing test organisations 

in India to synchronise their activities and develop adequate synergies. 

2.1 Participants 

The participants of the workshop were 25 members of organisations 

representing Consumer Voice (VOICE), Consumer Education and 

Research Center (CERC), CONCERT, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 

State Govt. delegates from consumer advice centres and representatives 

from various national Consumer Help Lines. From the GTZ Mr. P.A. 

Krishnamoorthy, Mr. Patrick von Braunmühl and several members of staff 

attended the workshop. In the morning of June18 th , Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, 

Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & 

Public Distribution attended the workshop as well as Dr. Jürgen Bischoff, 

Director of the Indo-German Environment Programme. In the afternoon of 

that day, three journalists, amongst them one Consumer Rights Columnist 

for various national newspapers and a radio journalist from All India Radio 

attended the meeting and had a discussion with the members of the 

workshop. (List of participants see Annex2). 

2.2 Summary of the workshop 

On Tuesday, 17 th July the workshop started at 10 o'clock. In his welcome 

address Mr. P.A. Krishnamoorthy, Indian Project Manager, briefed about 

the essentials of the project and emphasised the need of comparative 

testing in view of the growing requirements and enhanced expectations of 

consumers with the increase in the economic growth in the country. Mr. 

Patrick von Braunmuehl, Senior Advisor, gave a brief introduction about the 

workshop and introduced Ms Laak. The session was initiated by a brief self 

introduction by the participants. A short film about the work of Stiftung 

Warentest was shown, the German consumer association, founded in 1964 

by the German Federal Parliament as an organisation that provided 

2

impartial and objective support for consumers by means of comparative 

investigations of products and services using scientific methods. 

She then elaborated the function of an independent testing organisation 

explaining the importance of reaching more people with information on 

comparative testing. (see Annex 1: Presentation "How to reach more 

consumers with comparative testing") 

The situation in India is similar to the one the Consumer Association in 

Germany faced at the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s. In 1966, 

Stiftung Warentest had started to publish a monthly magazine, „test“, which 

contained two or three tests and general consumer information and which 

could be subscribed or bought at retail outlets. Whereas ordinary 

magazines were launched with a budget of several million Euros (DM at the 

time), the budget for test was very close to zero. After a short bloom selling 

figures went down and in 1968 it was decided to stop the sales at the kiosk 

and news stalls. Only subscribers were send the magazine, you could also 

write orders to buy one particular example. At that time, Stiftung Warentest 

came up with a new strategy: In order to raise awareness that there is such 

a helpful organisation, the test results were spread as widely as possible 

with daily newspapers, broadcasting, television and supplements to other 

magazines. Other promotional activities included the regular publishing of 

press releases, press-conferences, get-togethers for journalists, consumer 

forums, information stands at fairs and exhibitions and seminars for 

Consumer Advisors. Additionally, experts were offered for interviews. In 

order to conduct up all these activities a professional press office was set 

up at Stiftung Warentest. 

In 1971 "test" restarted at the news stalls and now it worked: From 44.000 

sold copies in 1969 the number went up to 473.000 sold copies in 1975. 

Nowadays the circulation of now two magazines is 750.000 copies, about 

85% of the budget is self earned, about 15% is provided by the federal 

ministry. PR activities nowadays involve information material for schools, 

ready-to-broadcast radio features, audio podcasts, photos for downloading, 

rough cut material for TV, web-videos, fixed broadcast and TV-slots, 

cooperation agreements with media and an online press-portal for 

journalists. 

She also gave examples of successes and failures of public relation at 

Stiftung Warentest and stressed the fact that consumer organisations have 

reliable and newsworthy information for journalists. 

On the completion of the session the participants discussed the scenario in 

India on comparative testing and problems that they have with the 

dissemination of their test results. 

As the discussion showed, Indian Consumer Organisations face quite a few 

problems in dealing with the mass media. In the assumption of the 

participants of the workshop Indian media don't like to report on test results 

and name brands because they are afraid of loosing advertisement 

customers. Not even test winners or positive results are being mentioned, 

because the named products could be from different companies than the 

ones which regularly advertise. There is also the fear of litigation on the 

part of the media, if a test result, for whatever reason, has to be withdrawn. 

Another problem, in the view of the participants, is the large number of 

languages spoken in the county. 

3

In order to reach more people with comparative testing and raise 

awareness among the consumers it was therefore agreed upon that 

1. The consumer organisations regularly interact and co-operate with 

journalists by cultivating personal contacts. 

2. They invite journalists to their laboratories and show them how the tests 

are being conducted and how the organisations work and finance 

themselves. 

3. They disseminate the test results by involving media locally with a limited 

number of journalists to start with by providing valuable, reliable and 

newsworthy information. 

4. They publish regular press releases and provide test results, i.e. in the 

form of summaries and result tables (see Annex3). Particularly interesting 

for the media are topics that involve emotion (safety, children, fraud etc.), 

that are interesting for a large number of people (food, products with 

hazardous chemicals) or test results, that help to safe a lot of money. 

5. They use National Days like National Consumer Day to launch articles 

about the organisations or test results that are related to that particular day. 

6. They emphasise on editorial reports rather than advertising because they 

have a higher credibility and are much cheaper. Media and marketing 

should therefore strictly be separated. 

7. They offer exclusive reports and background information on how they 

work, how they were founded and how they finance themselves with 

individual media, but treat all the media the same when it comes to the 

dissemination of the test results. Thus they establish themselves as 

reliable, trustworthy partners. 

8. They offer and establish experts on certain topics so that the media know 

who to ask if they want advice from a reliable source. 

9. They provide their experts with media training, so that they learn how to 

give interviews most effectively. 

10. They emphasise on becoming better known rather than to get more 

subscribers. The subscribers will come once the reputation has been 

established. 

Since the Indian Consumer Organisations do not have a substantial 

amount of money for PR, several scenarios about how to establish 

professional press work were being discussed. It was agreed upon that one 

professional PR person (i.e. a graduate with a degree in journalism and 

public relations or someone with experience in the field) will do the press 

work for all the three consumer organisations. This person will be situated 

in Delhi but will need to travel to establish personal contacts with journalists 

in other states as well. Each organisation will keep its own Corporate 

Design and Logo, the press officer shares his or her time between all three 

organisations. 

On Friday, 18 th June, Mr. Krishnamoorthy opened the session, followed by 

the Director ASEM Indo-German Environmental Programme, Dr. Jürgen 

Bischoff, who talked about the environmental aspects of consumer 

behaviour and how consumers can change the patterns of productions by 

choosing environmental friendly products. He suggested that the Indian 

consumer organisations work together closely and publish the results on 

one common platform. 

4

Then Mr. Rajiv Agarwal, Secretary to the Government of India in the 

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution thanked the GTZ 

for their work and explained his areas of main concern. In his view all the 

states in India should have consumer help lines. These should not only be 

provided in English or Hindi but in the local languages as well. The GTZ 

has developed software providing a central complaints database and a 

knowledgebase which is already used in four states. In his opinion this ITsystem 

providing a network between different helplines and advice centers 

should be used in other states as well. He also stated that the results of 

comparative tests do not reach enough people in India. He therefore hopes 

that the consumer organisations will work on a strategy of working with 

mass media in order to disseminate the test results further. 

In a quick overview Ms Laak told Mr. Agarwal how Stiftung Warentest had 

been in the same situation 40 years ago and what we have done to raise 

public awareness for our institution and our test results. 

In the next session, Mr. Ashim Sanyal from Voice, Mr. S. Ramani from 

Concert and Mr. D. Saravanan from CERC presented the status of 

consumer awareness in India, the PR strategies of their organisations and 

the problems that they have with the dissemination of their test results (see 

summary above). It was also stressed that it is not easy for the 

organisations to decide, how much of their test results they give away for 

free in order to become better known. 

In the following discussion with journalists it became quite obvious, that the 

interaction between consumer organisations and the media needs to be 

intensified, if the dissemination of test results is to be successful. 

The journalists, for example, didn't know that the consumer organisations 

are funded by the government and how the tests are being performed. It 

was also not yet clear that the media would offer a service to their readers, 

listeners or viewers by publishing test results and subsequently may be 

able to sell more copies or have more users. The consumer organisations 

on the other hand, didn't quite know what kind of information the media 

would be interested in and how they should present this information. 

In order to raise more awareness for consumer issues and test results, the 

above mentioned 10 activities were agreed upon. It was also suggested 

that one press officer will work for all three consumer organisations 

because each of them does not have the resources to pay for an individual 

press officer. A scheme needs to be set up that enables each organisation 

to get its "share" of professional press work. This press person could be 

trained at Stiftung Warentest in Berlin for maybe two weeks if this is agreed 

upon by the organisations. 

5

Workshop "How to reach more people with 

Comparative Testing" 

17th and 18th June 2010

Introduction of the work of Stiftung Warentest

Folie 3 

How to reach more people with Comparative Testing 

Recognition of Stiftung Warentest

Folie 4 


High trust and very high trust in social 

institutions 

Stiftung Warentest 

The Police 

German Red Cross 

Greenpeace 

The Courts 

Public television companies 

The Church 

The unions 

Private television companies 

Authorities 

German Federal Parliament 

Business/enterprises

Folie 5 


User satisfaction with Stiftung 

Warentest's investigations

Folie 6 


Founding and aim 

• Founded in 1964 following 

decision by German Federal 

Parliament 

• Aim is to provide impartial and 

objective support for consumers 

by means of comparative 

investigations of products and 

services

Folie 7 


Basic principles 

• Anonymous purchasing of products, covered use of 

services 

• Carrying out of investigations using scientific methods 

• Evaluations based on objective investigation results 

• Independence – no advertisements in the publications

Folie 8 


Investigation work in a year 

• Approx. 100 comparative product tests 

• Approx. 25 investigations of general services 

• Approx. 75 investigations of financial services

Folie 9 


45 years of investigative work 

• 5,000 product tests 

• 85,000 tested products 

• 1,700 investigations of services 

• including 1,100 investigations of financial services

Folie 10 


Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Folie 11 


Magazines 

test – since 1966 

Circulation of approx. 

500,000 copies 

Finanztest – since 1991 

Circulation of approx. 

250,000 copies

Folie 12 


Books and special issue magazines 

• More than 

20 new 

books per 

year 

• Approx. 

70 titles 

available 

• 250,000 

books 

sold per 

year

Folie 13 


Internet: test.de 

• Visitors: 

30m per year 

• Paid-for 

downloads: 

770,000 

• Sales: 

€ 1.75m 

• 25,000 flatrate 

customers

Folie 14 


Produkt finder database at test.de 

• 125 child car 

restraints 

• 40 camcorders 

• 100 health insurers 

• 700 digital cameras 

• 260 televisions 

• 4000 funds 

• 9000 medicines 

• 50 mattresses 

• 20 vacuum cleaners

Folie 15 


Example: Test of dishwasher detergents 

• Computer-controlled automatic dishwashers 

• 10.000 washing cycles

Folie 16 


Example: Test of dishwasher detergents 

• 10.000 individual items were soiled exactly as defined 

• Soil: tea, milk skin, minced meat, egg yolk, egg milk 

mixture, starch mixture, oats

Folie 17 


Results cleaning efficiency 

Different results with a minced meat soil (dye added)

Folie 18 


Results rinsing efficiency 

"good" result filming filming, spots spots

Folie 19 


Results gentle treatment of materials 

new product 1 product 2 new product 1 product 2 

1000 items were washed 300 times each

Folie 20 


Brand image

Folie 21 


Budget 

• approx. € 48m per year 

– approx. 84% self earned (sales revenues) 

– approx. 16% subsidies from federal ministries

Folie 22 

Local Fed. States National 


Consumerism in Germany 

Market 

surveillance 

BMELV 

(Federal Office for Food 

Safety, Agriculture and 

Consumer Protection) 

Local and 

regional 

authorities 

Scope of work 

Lobbying, 

advice 

vzbv 

(Federation of German 

Consumer Organisations) 

Verbraucherzentralen 

Advice and 

information 

centres 

Testing, 

consumer 

information 


(Foundation for 

Comparative Product 

Testing)

Examples of influence of Stiftung Warentest

Folie 24 


Advertising with test verdicts 

• increased sales 

• products become better 

known 

• brands have a better 

status 

• 57% of retailers want to 

have products with a 

positive verdict

Folie 25 


Advertising with test verdicts

Folie 26 


Advertising with test verdicts

Folie 27 


Bad test results 

• put sales at risk 

• frighten off customers 

• are a serious risk for 

manufacturers 

• 50% of retailers do not want to 

re-order products with a 

negative verdict 

• large retail chains such as "Aldi" 

take products off the market, if 

Stiftung Warentest's test results 

are worse than "satisfactory".

Folie 28 


Weakness becomes strength 

• Over 80 % of the manufacturers systematically 

evaluate the test results. 

• More than 65 % take the test criteria into consideration 

in their product development. 

• More than 50% have used test results to improve their 

products. 

• More than 30 % take the test criteria into consideration 

in their quality control.

Folie 29 


Washing machines 

• discovery of production fault 

(machines had an electrical hazard) 

• Recall of the product 

• Possibility of 

repairing 

• Production 

changes made

Folie 30 


Olive oil 

• evidence of health harzard 

chemicals (DEHP) 

• oil taken off the market 

• recall of the affected batch

Folie 31 


Success 

TVs und monitors today without toxic flame resistants

Folie 32 


Success 

Do-it-yourself tools without toxic PAH

Folie 33 


Success 

• child car restraints, bicyles, cots became more secure 

• Insurances enhanced their contracts

Folie 34 


Reaction of the manufacturers 

• Stiftung Warentest's test programmes are used as an 

orientation for product development 

• Retail market: discontinuation of badly rated products 

• Criticism of requirements which go beyond legal 

requirements 

• Discussions about test results, 

examination of expert's report 

• Regularly, but a minority reaction: 

solicitor letters, cease-and-desist letters, legal action

How cooperation with mass-media has helped

Folie 36 


First German consumer magazine 

• Commercial magazine DM started in 1961 

• low credibility because of ads 

• stopped in 1966

Folie 37 


German consumers 

• German 

consumers 

were not 

familiar with 

test 

magazines 

when Stiftung 

Warentest 

started

Folie 38 


First issue of test 

• in April 1966, the first 

issue of the magazine 

test was published 

• some buyers and 

subscribers (curiosity) 

• Ordinary new mags 

were launched with a 

budget of several 

million DM for publicity 

campaigns 

• Der test: close to zero

Folie 39 


The first years 

• selling figures went down after a short bloom 

• 1968: Stopped sales at the kiosk and newsstalls 

• only subscribers and written orders

Folie 40 


New strategy 

• raising awareness that there is such a helpful 

organisation 

• spreading test results as widely as possible: 

– daily newspapers 

– broadcasting 

– television 

– supplements to other mags

Folie 41 


Monthly news service 

• "Dienst" (text) and 

"Kompass" (table) 

• for free

Folie 42 


"Tele-Test" in German television 

monthly edition with new test results

Folie 43 


Other activities 

• Press releases 

• Press conferences 

• Get-together for journalists 

• Interviews with experts 

• Own press office 

• Consumer forums 

• Information stands at fairs and exhibitions 

• Seminars for Consumer Advisors 

• Looking after visiting groups and school classes 

• Information materials for schools

Folie 44 


First success: Subscribers increase

Folie 45 


Back to the newsstalls 

• 1971: Restart with test at 

the newsstalls 

• Now it worked 

• From 44.000 (1969) 

to 473.000 (1975)

Folie 46 


Conclusions 

• valuable content is not enough 

• effective launch promotion is essential 

• through mass media you can reach critical mass 

• much cheaper than advertising

The Media and PR Activities of Stiftung 

Warentest

Folie 48 


What is the importance of PR activities? 

• Editorial reports have a higher credibility than 

advertising 

• Radio and TV reports are especially effective 

• Brand recognition 

• Marketing budget primarily for advertising for 

subscribers

Folie 49 


Dissemination of 

investigation results (2009) 

2.800 

(8 per day) 

4.600 

(13 per day) 

78.000 

(210 per day 

Circulation: approx. 

2bn per year)

Folie 50 


Print media 

• Approx. 6,500 

print articles 

per month

Folie 51 


Articles about our work

Folie 52 


Press services 

• 40 editorial departments subscribe to the "summaries & 

results tables 

• Payment based on circulation, or free of charge if photo of 

magazine cover is shown 

• Income: approx. € 25,000 per year

Folie 53 


Difference between ... 

... short table for the press ...

Folie 54 


... and magazine table

Folie 55 


Press releases 

• 5-6 press releases per issue + consumer news for "youth" media

Folie 56 


Press mailing list 

• 3,400 recipients 

• Voluntary registration

Folie 57 


News agencies 

• Advance information for important news agencies 

• Reports available on release date

Folie 58 


Photos and cover page for downloading

Folie 59 


Material made available to radio stations 

• 2-3 ready-to-broadcast radio features per issue (1:30 each) 

• "Original sound packages" 

• Approx.10,000 downloads per month 

• Newsletter sent to 300 radio editorial departments

Folie 60 


Audio podcasts 

• Radio features in the form of a podcast 

• 16 additional podcast productions 

• Approx. 16,000 downloads per month

Folie 61 


Fixed braodcasting slots

Folie 62 


Radio interviews 

• Approx. 750 interviews per year in the in-house recording 

studio 

• Approx. 4,600 radio broadcasts per year 

• Approx. 13 per day

Folie 63 


Rough cut material for TV 

• 11 topics per year 

• Approx. 20 minutes long 

• Announced via newsletter sent to 250 TV editorial 

departments 

• 20 to 50 broadcasts per topic 

• Broadcast to approximately 8 m households 

• Cost: approx. € 10,000 

• Advertising spot on RTL at 9 pm costs approx. € 53,000

Folie 64 


Web videos & video podcasts 

• 36 web videos per year (approx. three minutes each) 

• Approx. 100,000 downloads / month 

• Plus multiple dissemination by dpa Video, ZoomIn, Youtube, 

Partner ...

Folie 65 


Footage and Webvideos 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os_UVXi5_l0

Folie 66 


Fixed TV broadcasting slots and 

cooperation agreements

Folie 67 


Arranging of TV interviews 

• Approx. 2,800 TV broadcasts per year (approx. 8 per 

day)

Folie 68 


Importance of Television 

• "test Spezial Energie" was referred to 

in a TV programme 

• Approx. 600 orders for the magazine 

before it was on sale

Folie 69 


Online cooperation 

• Two thirds of the biggest news websites have content or link 

cooperation agreements with Stiftung Warentest

Folie 70 


Prominent positioning of cover image & 

link

Folie 71 


Example 

• "Spezial Eigenheim" at 

bild.de with a link 

• 300 orders 

• 2000 € sales

Folie 72 


Online press portal 

• Press releases 

• Speeches 

• Radio broadcasts 

• Film material 

• Picture material 

• Calendar 

• Contacts

Folie 73 


Press conferences 

4-5 press conferences per year

Folie 74 


Reasons for press conferences 

• security issues 

• money savings 

• common interest 

• children's push chairs 

• bank counselling 

• social networks 

• pharmacy

Folie 75 


Other activities 

• Seminars for journalists 

• Subscription service for news agencies 

• Visiting editorial offices, personal contacts 

• Briefing sessions 

• Checking of effectiveness / media response 

• Interview training

Folie 76 


Public relations work 

• Company film 

• About us at test.de 

• Annual report 

• Leaflets

Folie 77 


Public relations work 

• Stands at trade fairs 

• Lectures & seminars 

• Internship programme

Folie 78 


Competition for young testers 

"Jugend testet" 

• 2,000 – 3,500 

participants every year

Folie 79 


School projects 

• "test" and "Finanztest" magazines in lessons 

• 3,000 pupils per project

Folie 80 


Teaching materials 

• The market & product testing 

• Young people & consumption 

• 18 teaching units from "test macht Schule" 

• 8 teaching units together with the Federation of 

Consumer Organisations (vzbv) 

• Pocket book series

Folie 81 


Visiting school classes 

• Approx. 50 per year

Tops + Flops – examples of sucesses and 

failures of PR

Folie 83 


Uschi Glas

Folie 84 


Uschi Glas

Folie 85 


Uschi Glas

Folie 86 


Uschi Glas

Folie 87 


Children's push chairs 

• 10 out of 14 are "unsatisfactory" 

• no product without toxic elements

Folie 88 


Bank councelling 

• 115 TV broadcasts 

• 440 radio broadcasts 

• 2500 print articles

Folie 89 


Walking aids for children

Folie 90 


Toxic products from discounter

Folie 91 


Olive oil

Folie 92 


Pricing system of railway tickets

Folie 93 


Riester-Rente (9/2002) 

• mistake in calculation 

• magazine has to be 

withdrawn 

• public apology

Folie 94 


World Cup stadiums

Folie 95 


World Cup stadiums

How to get attention as a consumer 

organisation – and what to avoid with mass 

media

Folie 97 


Success factors for PR 

• Offer newsworthy information 

• Offer a service 

• Don't pester 

• Stick to facts 

• Be reliable 

• treat everybody equally (release date) 

• Cultivate personal contacts 

• Decide who the different topics could interest 

(according to topic, regional, national)

Folie 98 


Advantages for the media 

• Content of a high standard 

• No/minimal costs 

• No research needed 

• More subscriptions of own papers 

• High reader interest 

• Win-win situation

List of Participants as on 17 th and 18 th June 2010 

Sr. 

No. 

Name & Address Contact no. Email ID 

1. Ms. Heike Van Laak 

0049-030 

h.vanlaak@stiftung-warentest.de 

Head of Press Department 


Luetzowplatz 

11-13 

Berlin Germany 

26312341 

2. Mr. Rajiv Aggarwal 

Secretary 

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, 

Government of India, 

Room no. 49, Krishi Bhavan, 

New Delhi-110001 

23782807 secyca@nic.in 

3. Dr. J. Bischoff 

Director 

GTZ-ASEM 

A-33, Gulmohar Park 

New Delhi – 49 

26611021 juergen.bischoff@gtz.de 

4. Mr. P A Krishnamoorthy 

GTZ-MOCA 

12/2 Jamnagar House 



23383680 krishnamoorthy@asemindia.com 

5. Mr. Patrick Von Braunmuehl 

GTZ-MOCA 

12/2 Jamnagar House 



23070857 patrick.vonbraunmuehl@asemindia.com 

Mr. Rakesh Kumar 

23381120 usrakesh.kumar@gmail.com 

6. Under Secretary,DOCA 

Room No. 456, Krishi 

Bhavan 

New Delhi 

7. Mr. Kirti K. Doodhat 

079-22114177 tolmap-ahd@gujarat.gov.in 

Controller Legal Metrology & Fax: 079- 

Director, Consumer Affairs, 22114234 

Gujarat State 

Office of Legal Metrology, 

Tolmap Bhavan, Opp. 

Sarangpur Water Tank, 

Ahmedabad, Gujarat- 380 

001 

09978405043 

8. Mr. S K Jain 

Controller, Weights & 

Measure 

Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 

09425011354 shulabh1109@yahoo.co.in 

9. Mr. Muthukrishnan 

044-28583272 ccs.cpsec@tn.gov.in 

Supdt. O/o Commissioner of 

Civil Supplies and Consumer 

Protection 

09940416196 tn@gov.in 

10. Mr. R Desikan 

044-24491317 concerttrust@hotmail.com 

Trustee 

9381046009 nirdesi@gmail.com 

CONCERT 

2/228, Chinnanbi Kuppan 

Road, Vettuvankeni, 

Chennai-600041, Tamil Nadu 

24494577 (F)

11. Mr. P.K. Ghosh 

Managing Trustee 

Consumer Education & 

Research Centre, 

Suraksha Sankool, Thaltej, 

Sarkhoj Gandhi Nagar 

Highway, Ahmedabad- 

380054 (Gujarat) 

12. Prof. Sri Ram Khanna 

Department of Commerce 

Delhi School of Economics, 

university of Delhi, Delhi- 

110007 

13. Mr. S. Ramani 

Trustee, 

CONCERT 

2/228, Chinnanbi Kuppan 

Road, 

Vettuvankeni, 

Chennai-600041, Tamil Nadu 

14. Mr. Ashim Sanyal 

COO 

Voice, 

441 Basement, 

Jangpura, Mathura Road, 


15. Mr. H Wadhwa 

Head- Comparative Testing- 

Voice, 

441, Basement, 



16. Mr. Pranay Sheth 

General Manager- 

Marketing- 

Voice, 




17. Mr. Sisir Ghosh 

Voice, 441, Basement, 



18. Ms. Amrita Dalela 




19. Ms. Archana Kumari 

Assistant Editor-Voice, 




20. Mr. N. K. Mathur 

NCH 




110007 

079-27489945 

27489947 

27662950 

044-24491317 

9448476816 

24379080 

24379081 (F) 

cerc@wilnetonline.net 

ghosh.prabhat@gmail.com 

www.cercindia.org 

cvoice@vsnl.net 

cpt@consumer-voice.org 

sriramkhanna@yahoo.co.in 

sramani9@hotmail.com 

sramani9@yahoo.com 

coo@consumer-voice.org 

9873478225 cvoice@vsnl.net 

011-24372121 

24379078-80 

24379081-telefax 

9810597598 

9811946824 

9810710278 

011-24379078-80 

9811819875 

27662950 

9810046060 

pranay@consumer-voice.org 

gsisir@yahoo.com 

amritadalela@gmail.com 

archana10feb@gmail.com 

archana@consumer-voice.org

21. Mr. Sanjeev Talwar 

NCH 




110007 

22. Dr. Roopa Vajpeyi 

Editor 




23. Mr. D. Sarvanan, 

Administration – Assistant 

CERC, (Consumer Education 

& Research Centre) 





24. Ms. Meghavi Joshi 

Project Officer 

CERC, (Consumer Education 

& Research Centre) 





25. Mr. Jayant Shirole 

Project Manager, 

CAC, Bhopal 

LIG/238, Kotrasultan 

26. Mr. G B Patra 

Consumer Advisor, CAC, 

Orissa 

27. Dr. Poonam Pande 

GTZ-MOCA 

12/2 Jamnagar House, 



28. Ms. Akshara Saini 

GTZ-MOCA 




29. Ms. Neha Verma 

GTZ-MOCA 




30. Ms. Rashi Sharma 

GTZ-MOCA 




31. Ms. Karen Matzke 

GTZ-MOCA 




27662950 

9891205781 

sanjeev.nch@gmail.com 

9810366706 roopa.vajpeyi@gmail.com 

9429025381 saravanansengunder@yahoo.co.uk 

9427074246 devemeghavi@yahoo.com 

9826464502 

jayant.shirole@gmail.com 

9437229357 g_b_patra@yahoo.co.in 

23070857 poonam@asemindia.com 

23070857 akshara@asemindia.com 

23383680 

neha.verma1@gtz.de 

23070857 rashi@asemindia.com 

karen.matzke@gtz.de

32. Mr. Avinash Kumar 

GTZ-MOCA 




33. Mr. Mukesh Kumar 

GTZ-MOCA 




9717743907 

List of media Participation on 18 th June 2010 

Sr. No. Name & Address Contact no. Email ID 

1. Mr. Manikant Thakur 

011-23421137 newsprog@gmail.com 

Sr. Correspondent 

23421104 

News Services Division, 23421105 (F) 

New Broadcasting House 9818557580 

Parliament Street, New Delhi- 

110001 

9810203741 

2. Pushpa Girimaji 

Syndicated Consumer Rights 

Columnist 

9910101355 pgirimaji@gmail.com

Geschirrspülmaschinen 26. März 2010 | test 4/2010 

Fünf tolle Tellerwäscher 

Neue Techniken machen Geschirrspülen so sparsam wie noch nie. 

Die Zeolith-Gechirrspüler von Bosch, Neff und Siemens, aber auch Miele mit neuer 

Trocknungstechnik liegen im Geschirrspülertest der Stiftung Warentest ganz vorn. Für die 

Bestnote „sehr gut“ reichte es dennoch nicht. Nach wie vor dauern die Sparprogramme, 

ausgewiesen auf dem Energieetikett, mit rund zweieinhalb Stunden viel zu lange, kritisieren die 

Tester. 

Die Bestplatzierten spülen und trocknen das Geschirr nahezu perfekt und sie sind dabei 

ausgesprochen genügsam. Am wenigsten verbraucht die Zeolithtechnik. Den damit ausgestatteten 

Einbaugeräten aus dem Hause Bosch/Siemens reichen im Sparprogramm knapp 11 Liter Wasser 

und 0,8 Kilowattstunden Strom, um rund 

160 Geschirrteile sauber zu spülen. Das kostet pro Spülgang etwa 

22 Cent, bei 250 Spülgängen im Jahr 55 Euro. Die größten Wasserverschwender im Test, Zanussi 

ZDI 101 X und Whirlpool ADG 6550 IX, zapfen im vergleichbaren Spülgang etwa 15,5 Liter aus 

der Leitung und brauchen 1 bis 1,1 Kilowattstunden Strom. Das macht 

30 Cent pro Spülgang und jährlich 75 Euro. 

Zeolith ist ein umweltverträgliches Mineral, das Feuchtigkeit und Wärme abwechselnd speichern 

und wieder abgeben kann. Im Geschirrspüler dient es vor allem der Luftentfeuchtung. Davon profitieren 

besonders Kunststoffteile, auf denen kaum noch Wasserflecken zurückbleiben. Nachteil 

der Zeolithtechnik: Sie braucht Zeit. Die fehlt aber in Kurzprogrammen. Beim schnellen Spülen 

wird die Zeolith-Funktion übergangen. Das Geschirr trocknet nicht besser als in anderen 

Geschirrspülern. Und das Kurzprogramm frisst Strom. 

In den Schnellprogrammen zeigen die Miele-Geschirrspüler ihre Stärken. Das Einbaumodell G 

1355 SCi und das verwandte Standgerät G 1355 SC trocknen auch im Eildurchlauf „sehr gut“. 

Die Geräte heizen beim Klarspülen höher auf. Außerdem öffnet sich nach Programmende die 

Gerätetür automatisch einen kleinen Spalt, sodass feuchtheiße Luft entweichen kann. Ein 

Trocknungsgebläse läuft dann etwa eine Viertelstunde nach. Vorteil dieser Technik: beste 

Trockenergebnisse in allen Programmen. Nachteil: ein geringfügig höherer Strombedarf als bei 

den Zeolithkonkurrenten. 

Kurzprogramme gehen zwar schnell, spülen aber häufig nicht so gut. So auch im Test. Auf den 

Tellern aus den Bauknecht- und ElectroluxSpülkörben blieben vergleichsweise viele Speisereste 

zurück und richtig unappetitlich sah das Geschirr aus dem Gorenje-Spüler aus. 

Schlusslicht ist der sehr laute ADG 6550 IX von Whirlpool für 

670 Euro. Platzt aus irgendwelchen Gründen der Wasserzulaufschlauch, fließt das Wasser 

ungehindert in die Küche. Besonders Mieter von Etagenwohnungen sollten dieses 

Überschwemmungsrisiko besser nicht eingehen.

Geschirrspüler 4 / 2010 

Mittlerer Reinigen Umwelt- 

Preisspanne Preis in und eigenHand- 

www.test.de in Euro ca. Euro ca. Trocknen schaften Sicherheit habung 

Gewichtung 40 % 30 % 10 % 20 % 

Einbaugeräte (teilintegriert) 

Bosch 

SMI68M35EU 1) 

680 bis 1 200 900 1 1 2 2 

Miele G1355 SCi 1 240 bis 1 400 1330 1 1 1 2 

Neff 

S41M68N3EU 1) 

Siemens 

SN56M584EU 1) 

Neff 

S41N69N1EU 

Siemens 

SN56N591EU 

Bosch 

SMI69N15EU 

Bauknecht 

GSIE 100 Power PT 

Electrolux 

ESI 67010 X 2) 

Gorenje 

64324 X 

Zanussi 

ZDI 101 X 2) 

Whirlpool 

ADG 6550 IX 

Standgeräte 

Miele 

G1355 SC 

Siemens 

SN26N291EU 

Bosch 

SMS69N12EU 

Bauknecht 

GSF 100 Power 

690 bis 1 030 885 1 1 2 2 

700 bis 1 200 875 1 1 2 2 

650 bis 1 000 790 2 2 2 2 

740 bis 1 190 900 2 2 2 2 

660 bis 1 200 870 2 2 2 2 

540 bis 930 710 2 3 3 3 

630 bis 800 695 3 2 2 2 

500 bis 850 665 2 3 3 3 

370 bis 555 455 3 3 2 2 

640 bis 750 670 2 4*) 4 3 

1 070 bis 1 150 1120 1 1 2 2 

600 bis 850 720 2 2 2 2 

600 bis 850 715 2 2 2 2 

500 bis 800 665 2 2 2 2 

QUALI- 

TÄTS- 

URTEIL 

100 % 

Bewertungsschlüssel der Prüfergebnisse: 1 = Sehr gut (0,5–1,5). 2 = Gut (1,6–2,5). 3 = Befriedigend (2,6–3,5). 

4 = Ausreichend (3,6–4,5). 5 = Mangelhaft (4,6–5,5). Bei gleichem Qualitätsurteil Reihenfolge nach Alphabet. 

*) Führt zur Abwertung. 

1) Mit Zeolith-Technik. 

2) Laut Anbieter Auslaufmodell. 

- 

GUT (1,6) 

GUT (1,6) 

GUT (1,6) 

GUT (1,6) 

GUT (1,7) 

GUT (1,7) 

GUT (1,8) 

GUT (2,4) 

GUT (2,5) 

BEFRIED. 

(2,6) 

BEFRIED. 

(2,6) 

AUSREICH. 

(3,7) 

GUT (1,6) 

GUT (1,7) 

GUT (1,8) 

GUT (2,3)

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