Consume This

Sunscreen, Sun cream, Teamy Creamy... Whatever you call it, it’s a crucial part of summer. It stops us burning and makes a day at the beach, or on the cricket field that bit more enjoyable. But not all sunscreens are created equal. We know that SPF 50 provides better protection than SPF 30, but it goes way beyond that. As unlikely as it may seem Sunscreens are the scene of a three decade, international, multi-million-dollar fraud. A fraud conducted by Gabriel Letizia Jr and his testing company AMA labs.  

Consumer NZ has been testing the sunscreens available in the New Zealand market for over ten years, and every year we find products that don’t live up to the SPF claims on their labels. This year – 2021 – is no exception. You can find the most recent sunscreen test results on our website here. The page will be updated early next year when the rest of the results land. 

Our thanks this week to Belinda Castles, John Staton, Holly Feng, Craig Dennyson, Pip Brown A.K.A. Ladyhawke & Janina Finn. 

For updates follow us on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to our mailing list here. You can get in touch via [email protected]. 

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As scary as it sounds, we’re rapidly heading towards Christmas! The holidays can be an exciting time, they’re full of food, friends, family and fun. But they can also be crammed with spending and shopping. One of our biggest expenses, in time and money, is the Christmas present!   

On this episode of Consume This we’re unwrapping the psychology and economics behind our giving. Plus, New Zealand's ‘unofficial Christmas historian’ Ali Clarke delves into why we give gifts at Christmas at all. Paul Harrison – a consumer behavior specialist – explains what our choice of gift says about our relationship, and why you might be better off taking a step back from the marketing. That’s something pod host Jon Duffy discovers first hand when a secret Santa gift gone wrong provokes serious ire from co-host Sophie Richardson. But why is Sophie so angry? It’s all because of a lack of gift giving reciprocity. As Ananish Chaudhuri, professor of behavioral economics at Auckland university explains – that’s more important that you might think... 

For updates follow us on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to our mailing list here. You can get in touch via [email protected]. 

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We all have a vague sense that groceries are really expensive. If you’ve been around long enough you might even be thinking ‘it never used to be this way’. But are we really being charged too much? According to the Commerce Commission the answer may well be yes. For the last 12 months they’ve been conducting a market study into the grocery sector. They recently published their draft report, and its findings are pretty damning for the two big supermarket chains. Simply put, they believe a lack of competition in the sector is keeping prices high and profits large. Unsurprisingly Countdown and Foodstuffs disagree with this analysis, maintaining that they have plenty of competition. In this episode of ‘Consume This’ we attempt to find some of it. 

We’re joined by Sarah Balle, the founder of a new online only supermarket to find out why it’s so hard to compete with the current duopoly. Another Sarah – boss of Yum Granola, Sarah Hedger – explains how a product makes it onto the supermarket shelves, who sets the price, and importantly why she doesn’t sell it cheaper via her own web shop. The grocery industry needs to change, we need our $$$ to go further, but are the Commerce Commission really up for the fight? 

You can find the full Commerce Commission draft report here & our submission to the ComCom market study here. This podcast only scratches the surface, for even more information on our supermarkets campaign check out the Consumer NZ website.

Thanks to this week's guests Sarah Balle, Sarah Hedger and Ramesh Patel. 

Consume This is brought to you by Consumer NZ. For updates follow us on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to our mailing list here. You can get in touch via [email protected].  

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Death is one of life’s certainties, but can you afford to die? According to the Ministry of Health the average price of a funeral is $8-10k. While this may not seem like a lot for some people, one in ten New Zealanders have no savings. We examine the funeral industry – can you BYO coffin? Why does it cost so much? Also, why is it so hard to find out funeral costs up front? 

We talk to one woman about her experience navigating the death industry after the sudden and unexpected death of her mother. Ex-casket maker Tamara Linnhoff shares inside information about anti-competitive practices in the industry, and Stephen Parkyn, the CEO of ‘Consumer Trusted’ Funeral Directors Lamb & Hayward tells us how regulation could improve things for consumers.  

Thanks to this Vee Blackwood, Tamara Linnhoff & Stephen Parkyn for joining us this week.

If you are struggling with the costs of arranging a funeral financial help may be available. More information is available on the NZ Government website, or via the Citizens Advice Bureau.

You can get in touch via [email protected]. For updates follow us on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to our mailing list here. 

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Is social media encouraging you to buy things you don’t need? According to podcast host Sophie Richardson the answer is no... but then again, she thinks the worm farm subscription Instagram has just sold her is an essential item!

On this week's episode we explore how Instagram is changing the way we shop. Specifically, we’re on a quest to find out how it convinced Sophie to sign up for that subscription worm farm. How was she targeted, and how did Instagram know exactly what she wanted, even before she did?

Huge thanks to this week's guests Mr. Worm Farm A.K.A. Leo Murray and Victoria University Of Wellington professor Michael Daubs. 

You can get in touch via [email protected]. For updates follow us on Facebook, Instagram or sign up to our mailing list here. 

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When we think about scamming, we think 'that wouldn't happen to me'. Scams are supposedly reserved for the elderly, hopeless, and those who are totally gullible. Rachel, a tax accountant from Auckland, in her late 30's wouldn't put herself into any of those categories, yet she was swindled out of $100,000. This is a cautionary tale that involves, deceit, love, a hostage situation, lots of texting, and the pillaging of a hard-earned savings account. This is her story...  

The scam that Rachel fell victim to is brand new to Aotearoa. It showed up for the first-time last year and the number of reports keeps rising. It targets millennials and it’s incredibly effective at extracting huge sums of money. In China where it’s been around for a few more years it’s known as ‘The Pig Butchering’ scam. That title hasn’t caught on here where it’s variously referred to as a hybrid or combo scam.

If you think you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this episode the first think you should do it contact your bank, next get in touch with one of the following agencies: 

Netsafe - 0508 638 723 

ID Care - 0800 121 068 

CERT NZ - 0800 2378 69 

And specifically for investment scams the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) - 0800 434 566 

Our huge thanks and appreciation go to Rachel for sharing her story to us, as well as everyone who helped us research this episode. You know who you are 😊 

You can get in touch via [email protected]. For updates sign up to the mailing list here & follow us on Instagram or Facebook. 

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New Zealand has built a mythology around meat and three veg for dinner. We have one of the highest rates of meat consumption per capita in the world, but times are changing... Particularly how much red meat we are stuffing in our faces. According to OECD Food & Agriculture statistics there has been a significant decrease in red meat consumption over the past 20 years. This fits with other research which shows a 27% rise in the number of us going vegetarian and an even larger proportion of us cutting back on the meat.  

So, what’s the deal? We regularly hear through the media that farting cows are melting the ice caps, so are climate change concerns driving us to eat less flesh? Maybe…. So, should we stop eating meat and are the alternatives any better for the environment? 

In this episode, we hear from 21 year old Sam Beerepoot about his decision to go vegan after attending the Auckland ‘School Strikes 4 Climate’ marches. Chat to some local butchers and Nikhil Sawant – Countdown’s head of meat – about changing consumption patterns. And filling in some of the science behind the environmental impacts of our diet, University of Otago Associate Professor Alexandra Macmillan.  

Alex's research paper on “Healthy and Climate-Friendly Eating Patterns in the New Zealand Context” can be read here. 

You can get in touch via [email protected]. For updates follow us on instagram or twitter.  

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Is it harder than ever to buy your first home? To do that we're joined by Habitat for Humanity CEO Alan Thorp & Economist Bernard Hickey. Plus we hear from Wellingtonian Vladimir Zdravkovich on his never ending quest for home ownership. And Whangārei home owner James.

Stats NZ’s Housing in Aotearoa:2020 report shows home ownership rates have been falling since 1991 and recently hit a 70-year low. The average home in New Zealand now costs $906,532 –a 22% price increase from this time last year, according to CoreLogic’s June 2021 data. This home also requires a deposit of $181,306, $33,662 more than last year.

If you earn the average salary of $56,160 – and had that deposit a year ago – would now have to save 60% of your pre-tax salary to cover the increase. These numbers echo research that Consumer NZ has been undertaking. Our Sentiment Tracker found three out of five homeowners couldn’t afford to buy their house at its current valuation. James, a registered electrician from Whangārei purchased his home in 2018 for $450k. Since then, the property’s capital gains have exceeded his and his partner’s – a registered nurse – combined income.

But does it really matter if we own our own home? According to Habitat for Humanity chief executive Alan Thorpe the answer is yes. Tammy Ngawhika Hutchins is a prime example. In 2012, along with Habit for Humanity’s help, she got into her own home. She was determined to provide stability for her four children. Her kids had had hundreds of doctors' appointments for asthma, but after moving out of rentals – and into their own warm, dry home – their health improved dramatically. Habitat and other community housing providers are trying their best to provide affordable homes, but can only meet a small fraction of the demand. In the past 30 years, Habitat has housed 530 families. As house prices increase, Alan tells us that mission is just getting harder. But, what about the people who haven’t been quite so lucky?

Vladimir Zdravkovich moved to New Zealand 30 years ago with his parents, escaping from war-torn Yugoslavia. He’s been saving to buy a home for more than 10 years, but always feels like he has the deposit he needed a year or two ago. This feeling of futility isn’t unique to Vladimir. According to Consumer NZ’s Sentiment Tracker, 42% of non-homeowners feel completely locked out of the market. A further 20% said that they’re saving for a deposit but can’t catch up.

So, what is driving this house price unaffordability? According to economist Bernard Hickey, New Zealand has the perfect storm of low interest rates, tax-free capital gains, and high quantitative easing all combining to push up asset prices. Bernard doesn’t see much political will to solve this problem, but he does offer up a model solution: Christchurch. At $631,000 it has the cheapest average home price of the four major cities. He claims this is driven by the response to the 2011 earthquake, where the government suspended the Resource Management Act, built high- and medium-density housing, and invested heavily in infrastructure.

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This week we’re asking the question – is it possible to buy sustainable fast fashion? To answer that we’re joined by sustainable fashion consultant Jacinta FitzGerald and GoodOnYou.eco founder Gordon Renouf.

Fashion is a huge business here in Aotearoa. In 2020 we collectively spent $7.8 billion on clothes and shoes. That’s over $1,300 each.  

Going back a little bit further in 2019 an estimated 63 million tons of clothing was produced globally. That’s more than the weight of 19 million Toyota corollas, 40 million hippos or 400 years worth of Italian parmesan cheese production! 

All this comes at a cost. The fashion industry has a huge effect on our planet. A report from the World Economic Forum report found that fashion production accounts for 5% of our CO2 emissions. That might not sound like a lot but it’s almost three times as much as the aviation industry. And it doesn’t stop there. Clothing production also accounts for 20% of the worlds waste water, enough to fill up 37 million Olympic swimming pools. 

Fast fashion gets a particularly bad name when it comes to sustainability. With a dizzying number of brands like H&M, Zara & ASOS releasing 'sustainable' and 'conscious' clothing lines, it can be a minefield to decipher what any of this actually means, and if claims are valid. And that is a real concern. 

Fashion sustainability consultant and program director and Mindful Fashion NZ join us to break down exactly what “sustainability” does and doesn’t mean with respect to fashion.  

A study by the Changing Markets Foundation found that “greenwashing is rife” at both high street and luxury brands. Their results said that 60 per cent of claims by UK and European fashion companies, including Zara, H&M are unsubstantiated and misleading. It’s not particularly surprising then that research has found that only 1 in 5 us trust a brands sustainability claims. 

With that in mind Gordon Renouf founder of sustainable fashion rankings app ‘Good On You’ joins us to dig into the marketing and sustainability messaging of H&M, Cotton:On, Glassons, Kathmandu and Kmart. Are they really as great as their marketing department makes them sound? 

You can get in touch via [email protected]. For updates follow us on instagram or twitter.

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Welcome to Consume This, a podcast discussing the human face of consumption in New Zealand. Hosted by Jon Duffy & Sophie Richardson. We explore the issues that shape our lives.

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