Consumer protection: Kalas and Goliath

The consumer protection activity of HuMuSz is best described like David’s fight against Goliath. Our opponents are very often multinational companies and advertising agencies. Why do we take a stand for the protection of consumers with only a sling? Because there is no one else who would do it. In Hungary the consuming society is at its height, the state is supporting the multis with tax allowance meanwhile the protection of consumers is still in an early stage. Usually, the firms do not have self-control and they would be “stupid” if they did not take the opportunities. For example, Pepsi has recently encouraged consumers in its advertisements to buy one-way drink bottles instead of the refillable ones. Seemingly, Tetra Pak is advertising fruit juice and the vital milk, but in reality, it wants to break into schools with its packaging, which is unsuitable for recycling. It spends millions on persuading the people that it has developed the most environmental-friendly packaging. The “green labels” are appearing on other frighteningly polluting products and advertisements are full of adjectives such as “bio,” “eco,” “green,” or many others. And we are constantly engaged in litigation. This means our experienced lawyer, Dr. Kalas György, has been continuously providing the offices of consumer protection with cases. We can only hope that with the time passing, he will have more and more followers and this will advance the establishment of an efficient system of consumer protection in Hungary.