The Shonky Awards have just wrapped up. There were winners and those winners were losers. All-in-all it was a good day for publically shaming some of Australia’s top brands for misleading consumers and misrepresenting their products.
Personally I’m just happy that Pringles got called out for its terrible decision to move to a box I can’t get my goddamn hands inside.
Here are the winners (losers) of the Shonkys, including Choice’s reasoning for giving them the gong…
Samsung
“Fresh from offloading 144,000 dodgy top loader washing machines the global tech giant doubled down and put 51,060 potentially dangerous Galaxy Note7s on the market. We think it’s time for Samsung to put consumers’ safety ahead of brand protection.”
Vanish
“Reckitt Benckiser’s fast action money removal strategy is nothing short of genius:
“Create a bright pink bottle
“Give it a flash sounding name like Vanish Preen Powerpowder Clean and Fresh Large Area Carpet Cleaner
“Make incredible claims like “revolutionary product to clean and refresh your carpet” with five times more dirt removal and a “fast drying action”
“Charge a whopping $14.70 a bottle
“What a shame it fails to outperform water in CHOICE tests. One thing it will clean out is your wallet.”
Amex
“Amex cards cost a lot for merchants to process because this helps to fund generous rewards schemes. In campaigning for an end to surcharges, Amex basically wants everybody to pay more at the checkout or retailers to absorb the cost so that it can continue to profit from its premium cards.”
Nestle’s Milo
“Nestle claims on pack that Milo earns a four-and-a-half Health Star Rating. But unless you read the tin’s fine print you would never know that they calculated this by mixing Milo with skim milk. When the contents of the tin are assessed on their own, Milo receives a mere one-and-a-half stars. Nestle, your delicious chocolate dirt is 46% sugar – it’s not a core dairy product!
Cash Converters – For indirectly promoting its payday loans under the guise of handy cost-cutting tips.
“At first glance the unbranded Common Cents website looks like a collection of helpful ways to save money but a closer look reveals that every tip on the site directs you to Cash Converters where you can be signed up for a crippling pay day loan.”
Medical Weightloss Institute
“MWI serves up a drug program that promises you won’t have to work out to lose weight, or even eat less. It clipped one consumer a staggering $4400 for the program, which was apparently half price. One thing is certain, your wallet will certainly be thousands of dollars lighter, but you’re unlikely to shed the kilos. Safety warning: one of the drugs – – being prescribed has been withdrawn from sale in Australia by our regulator, the TGA. It may cause headaches, nausea and seizures!”
Green and Clean’s bottled air
“From Bondi to the Blue Mountains, Green and Clean bottles up air and flogs it to cashed-up tourists as a potential antidote to the country’s pollution with 12 cans setting you back $246.26, and offering “upward of 255 breaths.””
Kellogg’s Pringles
“Although they dropped the pack price from $4.10 to $4.00, making you think you’ll get more for your money, Kellogg’s actually increased the unit price of Pringles by then reducing the tub and chip size. The tubes decreased by 8.9%, the average Pringle length dropped a staggering 9.7% and the weight fell 10.7% from 150g to 134g. With the price per 100g jumping from $2.73 to $2.99, that’s an increase of 9.5%. And they also increased the saturated fat content by a staggering 60%.”
Camel Milk Victoria
“It claims camel milk is “known to help improve the immune system by fighting off bacteria and infections and aid those who have autism, diabetes, tuberculosis, cancer, stomach ulcers and more.” CHOICE has referred Camel Milk Victoria to the food regulator.”
Comments
10 responses to “Shonky Awards 2016: The Worst Products Of The Year Revealed”
Wow, after reading the whole list it’s even more clear that Samsung doesn’t belong on it. Every other product/service is deliberately trying to scam/trick/shortchange customers. As terrible as the phone problems were, they were accidental and quickly rectified (and not at the customers cost). How many of the other shonkies on this list can say the same?
To be fair to samsung, at least they’re sticking to the fire theme. Maybe they’re planning an Airbender tie up for 2017. Watch out for flooding washing machines and dishwashers that make dishes dirter than before.
I heard Samsung is getting into the airship business. Here’s their latest prototype in testing
Quote from : https://www.choice.com.au/shonky-awards/hall-of-shame/shonkys-2016/samsung
My point being those phones were a definite shonky product, in my opinion. In fact replacement phones from Samsung can have problems too; http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest
Quote Source :Since the change pringles are dead to me.
Ditto.
Costco sells American Pringles, not that Malaysian garbage you see at Coles and Woolies
I feel like the samsung award is a bit harsh. They weren’t deceptive or disengenious as is usually the case with these awards. They took the correct action and did so swiftly, if anything they are a good example of what you should do.
Samsung was a bit harsh, it was the manufacture of the batteries that are to blame.
What? No Arnott’s Shapes on this list?
I agree with the inclusion of Samsung on this list. Their products are third rate quality although they might be grade A bling. They’ve had power troubles for over a decade (my old Samsung flip phone, in its charger, singed a BIG circle on the surface on which it was sitting, before I saw it and threw it out the door … in the early 2000’s; thank goodness I was home!) It’s an ongoing theme across their product lines. Then there’s my friend’s TV’s that wouldn’t power on a week or two after the end of the warranty period. Then there’s all those Samsung washing machines catching fire.
The only Samsung products I’ve owned in years have been their SSD’s, and I’m not even all that impressed with them. (Except for the fact that they have not burnt up my computer yet, which for Samsung, I guess counts as a good thing.)
Cheap junk is cheap junk, regardless of the money the vendor spends on advertising and pretty packaging.