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''Consumer Reports'' is known for publishing reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing Laboratory . ''Consumer Reports'' does not accept advertising nor permit the commercial use of its reviews for selling products. Further, all tested products are purchased at retail by ''Consumer Reports'' staff. No free samples are accepted from manufacturers. ''Consumer Reports''' tests and ratings of appliances, foods, Automobile s and other products/services are highly respected. The annual ''Consumer Reports'' new car issue, released every March, is typically the magazine's best-selling issue and is thought to influence millions of automobile purchases.

Consumers Union also publishes ConsumerReports.org. With millions of readers, it has more paid subscribers than any other publication-based Web site. While most of its information comes at a small fee, in 2005, Consumers Union launched Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs . This service takes publicly available (but hard to digest) studies on pharmaceutical effectiveness and combines them with pricing information in an easy-to-read format.

In 1996 ''Consumer Reports'' was the subject of a lawsuit by Suzuki Motors regarding a road test of the Suzuki Samurai that the magazine had published in 1988 . Suzuki alleged that the magazine's test of the company's popular off-roader had been skewed so as to show that the vehicle was prone to tipping over during an avoidance test (an equivalent of other magazines' " Elk Test "). The lawsuit was dismissed by mutual consent in 2004 . {Link without Title}

''Consumer Reports'' should not be confused with '' Consumers Digest '', a for-profit publication which does accept advertisements and allows companies to use its reviews for Marketing purposes.


SEE ALSO



REFERENCES


  • Consumer Reports website, "Our Mission". At {Link without Title} . Retrieved July 09, 2005.

  • Consumer Reports website, "Consumers Union Shopping and Testing". At {Link without Title} . Retrieved July 09, 2005.



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