Comparative Consumer Product Testing in Germany

The introduction of comparative product testing in Germany reflected the rise of a mass consumer society within a rapidly changing market economy. The first proposal to establish a federally supported institute for product testing was made in 1957. Proponents wished to reduce the asymmetries of power and information between producers and consumers. Producers' initial opposition was overcome once federal legislation was passed and they recognized that the institute's work gave them an opportunity to use the test results in their corporate marketing and advertising strategies. By integrating state-regulated consumer protection into the social-market economy, the Stiftung Warentest, Germany's independent product-testing foundation, became an expression of both the emerging modern consumer society and the German corporatist model.