test (magazine)
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| Area of Expertise | Consumer education in the field of product testing and services |
| language | German |
| publishing company | Stiftung Warentest , Berlin ( Germany ) |
| First edition | 1966 |
| Frequency of publication | per month |
| Sold edition | 2017: 396,000 copies |
| ( [1] ) | |
| Editor-in-chief | Anita Stocker |
| Web link | www.test.de |
| ISSN (print) | 0040-3946 |
The magazine test is the most important publication of the consumer protection organization Stiftung Warentest . It examines and compares goods and services from different providers. In addition to the product tests , reports, tips and trends for consumers appear here. The publication is also ad-free. This is to ensure the greatest possible independence from the providers.
The magazine is one of the top 10 retail magazines with the highest reach in Germany. It appears monthly. All tests and reports can also be called up online - in some cases for a fee.
In addition to the test magazine published by Stiftung Warentest in 1991, the magazine Finanztest and published on the Internet at test.de .
history
The first of the monthly issues of Stiftung Warentest went on sale on March 26, 1966 under the title “DER test”. The initial print run was 210,000 copies and sales in this amount were unexpected - around half were sold straight away at the kiosks. For 1.50 DM the readers received the test results of 24 zigzag sewing machines and 10 hand blenders - framed by a so-called jacket part with numerous useful consumer topics, advice and tips.
The response from the press was mixed: In addition to positive reactions (“it's finally here”), there was also criticism. The "Consumer Policy Correspondence", published by the Working Group of Consumer Associations (AgV), described the tests as partly unusable, partly misleading and with this slap it placed itself in a row with manufacturer and trade associations. The low number of product tests was also criticized in several reports: “Too little work is being done for a lot of money. Two tests per number, that means 24 per year and that for four million marks. ”(Hessische Allgemeine, February 4, 1966).
The SPD member Lucie Kurlbaum-Beyer remarked in the Bundestag on the first cover of the magazine, on which a blonde woman was depicted on the full page: “And don't you agree with me that it would be the task of a publicly funded magazine to do To work on the abundance and quality of consumer information and not to pull out a magazine with sex? "The MP Karl Moersch replied:" Do you agree with me that a publication with the sparkling liveliness of the Federal Government's bulletin would have been unsuitable for serving the cause ? "
There was already a forerunner - the magazine DM (Deutsche Mark - First magazine with product tests), published by the Waldemar Schweitzer publishing house in Stuttgart. DM-Test was published from September 1961 to mid-1966. The new magazine replaced its predecessor at precisely the same time.
The 1960s
In the first ten years the focus was on "white goods" such as washing machines and other large and small household appliances.
After the successful start, the sales of "DER test" sank rapidly: In April 1967 the number of subscribers was only 10,000, at the kiosk only 2,500 copies were sold. In 1967 the Stiftung Warentest decided to stop selling the magazine at the kiosk. This was followed by close cooperation with the media: radio and television reported on the test results, newspapers and magazines were allowed to reprint them free of charge. You can find abstracts from the press service "test-dienst" or the "test compasses" (compressed results tables) published by the foundation.
The growing popularity allowed the number of subscribers to climb again. From October 1968 the test quality rating was available as a quick guide for the purchase decision: "very good", "good", "satisfactory", "less satisfactory" and "unsatisfactory". Until then, only an overall impression was described.
In 1968 the first legal dispute arose with a manufacturer. He complained against the poor assessment of his mayonnaise, but lost in both the first and second instance. The higher court ruled: “Anyone is free to objectively criticize. But the defendant's test report contains nothing else. "
The 1970s
In 1971 the foundation successfully tried a new start at the kiosk. An average of 20,000 consumers bought “test” each month, as the magazine was now called more briefly. The circulation increased continuously and test became one of the largest consumer magazines in Europe. At the end of 1974, ten years after Stiftung Warentest was founded, 225,000 consumers had subscribed to test. In addition, an average of 145,000 issues were sold at the kiosk every month. In 1978 there were almost 600,000 copies a month.
In addition to the actual tests, there were more and more messages, reports, and product customers who offer consumers help in addition to the test reports.
The 1973 international radio exhibition marked the start of the regular special publications by Stiftung Warentest, the first special issue on “radio and phono equipment”, which found around 84,000 buyers.
In the same year, the first test yearbook was launched with a summary of all test results from the past twelve months. In 1974 the systematic study of services began.
Two complaints from manufacturers led to the Federal Court of Justice . The judgments confirmed the working principles of Stiftung Warentest in the highest instance. In its landmark judgment on a test of ski safety bindings, the Federal Court of Justice in 1975 emphasized the economically sensible and useful function of the Stiftung Warentest.
The 1980s
In the 1980s, in addition to the classic large household appliances, entertainment electronics products increasingly became the focus of interest. During this time, it was also important to compare insurance offers, building finance and advisory services from banks, as well as travel. In 1989 the Stiftung Warentest celebrated its 25th anniversary. This year test was 740,000 copies. 580,000 of them went to subscribers, 160,000 were sold at the kiosk.
The article “Sicherheit im Abseits”, which uncovered a number of security deficiencies in German sports stadiums, had the greatest response (test 9/85).
In 1987, the Federal Court of Justice again ruled in favor of the foundation in a legal dispute over the test of compost choppers. The dispute was about the question of whether the foundation's security checks may make higher demands than the corresponding DIN regulations. The Federal Court of Justice answered this question in the affirmative.
The 1990s
The topics of nutrition, cosmetics and health shaped the magazine's 1990s. Food tests were the most popular among readers: tests of green tea, which was considered to be particularly beneficial to health, uncovered pollutants. Fresh fish wasn't always fresh, and some extra virgin olive oils turned out to be highly heated instead of cold-pressed.
The topics of nutrition and cosmetics were given their own department as part of a restructuring, as well as computers + telephones, leisure + transport, household + garden, health, money + law and image + sound.
At the beginning of 1999, Stiftung Warentest offered the readers of its magazines a new rating scale from “very good” to “poor”. The judgment “very poor”, which was only used very rarely, was dropped. Between "Satisfactory" - renamed "Satisfactory" - and "Poor", she added the new judgment "Sufficient". The quality judgments now also differentiated more. Intermediate grades and quality assessments were no longer rounded, but calculated taking into account the decimal places. There was also a change in the presentation. In addition to the verbal judgments, there was now a note in digits with a decimal point.
Test has also been available on the Internet since 1997. At test.de , users can find all of the tests and articles published since January 2000, as well as an ordering service for publications.
Since 2000
On December 4th 2004 the Stiftung Warentest celebrated its 40th anniversary. Results after four decades of testing: over 73,000 products tested, almost 4,000 product tests and around 1,200 service tests. The total print run of test was 600,000 copies in the anniversary year.
For the first time in 2004, Stiftung Warentest also examined and assessed the social responsibility of companies in the manufacture of products. When testing functional jackets in the December issue, readers also received information on the social and ecological behavior of the providers.
In a test of olive oils of the highest quality “extra virgin”, the testers rated nine out of 26 oils as “poor” in 2005. In seven of them they demonstrated prohibited heat treatments. Some oils were also contaminated with harmful plasticisers or had a disappointing taste. With 210,000 copies sold at the kiosk, the October issue of test, in which the study presented at a press conference was published, was the best-selling in retail since 1978.
When testing the structural security in the soccer World Cup stadiums, Stiftung Warentest found “significant defects” in four stadiums, “significant defects” in four other stadiums and “minor defects” in only the remaining four stadiums. The investigation met with extraordinarily high media interest, which was not only due to the upcoming soccer World Cup, but also to allegations by the stadium operators and the World Cup organizing committee against Stiftung Warentest.
A legal dispute, which also caused a lot of media hype, was finally decided in favor of Stiftung Warentest. The "Uschi Glas Hautnah Face Cream" received the rating "Poor" because of its poor skin tolerance. The Court of Appeal unanimously rejected the manufacturer's appeal against the judgment of the Berlin Regional Court, which was negative for it, as it only had “no prospect of success”.
In April 2008 the Stiftung Warentest presented its new corporate design, with the test and financial test received a new logo. This should make it easier for consumers to assign both magazines to the umbrella brand Stiftung Warentest. Test.de also got its own logo.
The magazine test compared 1966 to 2010:
| 1966 | 2010 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales figures (average per month) | 52,000 | 497,000 |
| Subscriptions (average per month) | 4,000 | 424,000 |
| Testing costs (average per issue) | € 36,123 | € 492,250 |
| Products tested per year | 442 | 2,217 |
At the end of November 2013, test results for chocolate bars were published in the magazine. Among other things, the variety "Whole Nut " was rated "poor" by Ritter Sport . Although only natural flavors are specified in the list of ingredients, the test result showed that the UPLC / MS method was able to detect the flavoring substance piperonal . This led to differences of opinion, as Ritter Sport referred to a guarantee from the supplier Symrise , according to which the aroma was natural and therefore “exclusively of natural origin” and “fully marketable as well as enjoyable”. The Stiftung Warentest contradicted this, according to which there is no common method to produce piperonal in a natural way. According to the European Flavor Ordinance, when specifying “natural flavor”, neither the starting material nor the process for obtaining piperonal should be chemical. Due to the false declaration with reference to Section 11 of the Food and Feed Code, the product testers stuck to their judgment.
Development of sales figures
In 1966, test started with an average of 52,000 issues per month, the first issue even with a circulation of 210,000 copies (including 60,000 subscribers). In April 1967 there was a massive slump in sales and the number of subscribers fell to 10,000. As a result, retail sales were discontinued in 1968 and only subscribers and direct customers were supplied.
From 1970 the sale took place again in the trade, the sales increase rapidly in the 70s. The reason for this was also the concept of making the research results available to newspaper and magazine publishers free of charge. In 1975 the sold circulation was already 473,000, in 1983 630,000.
1991 was a record year for Stiftung Warentest: an average of 960,000 copies were sold every month. Since then, magazine sales have declined continuously: from 635,000 (2001) to 497,000 (2010). Around 424,000 copies are delivered to subscribers and around 73,000 are sold at the kiosk. The decline can also be explained by the publication of the second journal Finanztest , which since 1991 has dealt extensively with insurance and investment topics that were previously dealt with to a lesser extent in test.
The October 2005 edition, including a test of olive oil , was the highest-circulation issue since 1978, with 210,000 copies sold at kiosks.
Price development
The converted prices in euros are adjusted for inflation.
- 1966 - 3/1972: 1.50 DM (approx. 2.80 euros)
- 4/1972 - 6/1975: 2.00 DM (approx. 2.84 euros)
- 7/1975 - 6/1977: 2.50 DM (approx. 3.21 euros)
- 7/1977 - 6/1979: 3.00 DM (approx. 3.62 euros)
- 7/1979 - 6/1981: 3.50 DM (approx. 3.85 euros)
- 7/1981 - 6/1984: 4.00 DM (approx. 3.81 euros)
- 7/1984 - 6/1987: 4.50 DM (approx. 4.11 euros)
- 7/1987 - 6/1989: 5.00 DM (approx. 4.50 euros)
- 7/1989 - 6/1991: 5.30 DM (approx. 4.52 euros)
- 7/1991 - 6/1993: 5.70 DM (approx. 4.46 euros)
- 7/1993 - 6/1995: 6.00 DM (approx. 4.38 euros)
- 7/1995 - 6/1997: 6.30 DM (approx. 4.46 euros)
- 7/1997 - 6/2000: 6.50 DM (approx. 4.37 euros)
- 7/2000 - 1/2001: 7.10 DM or 3.63 euros (approx. 9.16 euros)
- 2/2001 - 8/2003: 3.60 euros or 7.04 DM (approx. 4.58 euros)
- 9/2003 - 7/2006: 3.90 euros (approx. 4.76 euros)
- 8/2006 - 12/2009: 4.20 euros (approx. 4.93 euros)
- 1/2010 - 3/2012: 4.50 euros (approx. 4.97 euros)
- 4/2012 - 3/2014: 4.90 euros
- 4/2014 - 3/2016: 5.30 euros
- 4/2016 - 2/2018: 5.70 euros
- since 3/2018: 6.10 euros
Editors-in-chief
- 1966–1999: Hans-Dieter Lösenbeck
- 1999–2011: Hubertus Primus
- since 2012: Anita Stocker
Logos
Providers are allowed to advertise with the test results of Stiftung Warentest under certain conditions.
Until April 24, 2008, other logos were used, some of which had a wide distribution and presence.
Logo license usage fees
If companies want to use a Stiftung Warentest logo, there are two different license models:
- "Silver model" Use in all media with the exception of TV and cinema advertising for a usage fee of € 10,000, for a short period of use € 7,000, for an extension of the period of use € 4,000 plus the applicable statutory sales tax.
- "Gold model" use in all media including TV advertising [all channels that can be received in Germany via satellite, cable or terrestrial] and cinema advertising for a usage fee of € 25,000, for a short period of use € 15,000 Extension of the useful life € 12,000 plus the applicable statutory sales tax.
As of July 2013.
competitor
Öko-Test magazine also tests goods and services. It is not published by Stiftung Warentest, but by Öko-Test-Verlag, in which the Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft is involved. In contrast to Stiftung Warentest, Öko-Test-Verlag also finances itself through the publication of advertisements .
Special publications
In addition to the monthly test and financial test magazines , the Stiftung Warentest publishes special publications such as books, special issues and yearbooks. In 1973 the first “test” guide appeared with all test results for the past twelve months (test yearbook). On the occasion of the International Radio Exhibition (IFA) , a special test issue on the subject of radio and phono equipment was published for the first time in the same year and had a sold circulation of 84,000. In 1983 the first guides follow in the form of brochures. Theme: kitchen and home improvement. Stiftung Warentest has also been active on the book market since 1991. The first book is about “The Other Medicine”. The first edition of 40,000 was quickly sold out, 120,000 copies were reprinted. Stiftung Warentest now publishes around ten special issues and around 40 new books every year. The book range includes around 120 titles that can be delivered.
Others
In September 2012, Simone Vintz and Peter Knaak were the first to win the consumer journalists' award from the Markenverband with their contribution "Spied out - data protection in apps" (published in test June 2012) .
Web links
- www.test.de is the official website of Test magazine and Stiftung Warentest as a whole
Individual evidence
- ↑ AWA 2016: The top 50 magazines In: meedia.de from July 7, 2016.
- ↑ Hans-Dieter Lösenbeck: Stiftung Warentest - A Review 1964-2002 , Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-931908-76-3 , page 16
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: 40 Years 1964-2004 , page 2
- ↑ Brochure 40 years of Stiftung Warentest , page 21
- ↑ Brochure 40 years of Stiftung Warentest , page 69
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: 40 Years 1964-2004 , page 3
- ↑ Brochure 40 years of Stiftung Warentest , page 21
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest: 40 Years 1964-2004 , page 3
- ↑ Tests of corporate social responsibility (CSR)
- ↑ Test of olive oil In: test 10/2005
- ↑ Test of World Cup soccer stadiums In: test 2/2006
- ↑ Face creams: "Uschi Glas" makes Pickel test.de, March 30, 2004 and test 4/2004.
- ^ Litigation against Uschi Glas finally won test.de, June 13, 2006
- ^ Stiftung Warentest: History
- ↑ Then and now - 45 years of Stiftung Warentest , page 2
- ↑ Annual report 2010
- ↑ Judgment by Stiftung Warentest: Ritter Sport appalled by the "poor" rating. spiegel.de, November 21, 2013, accessed on November 22, 2013 .
- ↑ https://www.test.de/Schokolade-Der-Streit-mit-Ritter-Sport-4636381-4636383/
- ↑ Aroma company SymRise: Ritter Sport supplier defends itself against allegations. In: Spiegel Online . November 22, 2013. Retrieved June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Stiftung Warentest - Facts and Figures Information from the print run diagram (JPG). Retrieved November 23, 2011
- ↑ Focus-Online-Vice Anita Stocker becomes new "Test" - Editor-in-Chief , Werben & Sell, August 17, 2011 (online)
- ↑ Advertising with test results - logos, conditions and tips
- ↑ http://www.ral-logolicense.com/vertragsbedingungen.html Properly advertise with test results
- ↑ https://www.test.de/unternehmen/werbung-5016972-5016979/ Logo license agreement
- ↑ Then and now - 45 years of Stiftung Warentest , page 16
- ^ Stiftung Warentest - books. Accessed on January 13, 2017
- ↑ Consumer journalists award of the Markenverband: First place for "Data protection in apps" , test.de , accessed online on September 11, 2012
- ↑ Award of the Markenverband Consumer Journalists Prize 2012 , press release from the Markenverband on September 10, 2012, accessed online on September 11, 2012