We still have something that tells us that it is good for us and it is even in one of those old things called a magazine. It is the good old Good Housekeeping seal of approval on products from the articles in the good old Good Housekeeping Magazine. The seal has become quite influential in telling consumers that the product really is good and does what it says it is supposed to do. 

 

There is so much junk being sold everywhere, we need to know what is the good stuff we should be spending our hard earned money on. When something is defective or broken we tend to just throw the thing out because you can’t even find a repair shop to fix anything these days. The Seal of Approval is great for business if you can even get it for your product. Once you get the seal your sales will go through the roof.

Peter Thomas Roth sold beauty products on QVC with average results. Two months ago his sales increased rapidly. He suddenly sold 2 Million dollars of product and had a waiting list of sales orders to fill. What changed was nothing about his product or sales pitch. What changed was that his products received the Good housekeeping Seal. The little sticker that was now going on every box really meant something.

Roth has no doubt that earning the seal made all the difference in revenue. It is no longer the old magazine your mother or grandmother just had lying around the house. Good Housekeeping means big business now. The seal is old , from 1909 to the present. The magazine was founded in 1885. Even then, they would write as a description of the publication, “Conducted in the Interests of the Higher Life of the Household.” It wasn’t just about etiquette or trends. Back in 1905, they were pushing for the Pure Food and Drug Act in government.

The magazine always warned us of possible dangers being sold to us over the counter. Articles like, Why Your Food Isn’t Safe, The Truth About Medication Errors In Hospitals, or The Dangers of No-diet Reducing Drugs are the types of topics they always promoted. The magazine stopped taking cigarette ads in 1952 which was 12 years before the surgeon general’s report came out that linked smoking to cancer. They called out products like unsafe Halloween Costumes that could go up in flames within seconds.

The magazine’s world famous research labs are the result of it’s history of activism. No product is advertised between it’s covers that hasn’t been tested thoroughly. If a product with the seal turns out to be defective, Good House Keeping, not the manufacturer will replace it or refund your money. No advertiser other than this Magazine does that!

Good House Keeping will evaluate anything that is used for household use from blenders to bathing suits. They concentrate on the durability of a product or it’s effectiveness. Good House Keeping also tests food for tastiness, nutritional facts and overall good for you effectiveness. It estimates that 21 Million people read each issue. With other magazines folding and just being out of print, this magazine has thrived by understanding what generations of house managing people care about. Notice I avoid the word housewives. All types of people are running households now not just women and not just wives.

In 2009 when the seal turned 100 years old, it introduced it’s new green seal. Benjamin Moore Paints applied for its new environmentally friendly paint product called Natura Paints. When the paint qualified for the seal, the company was reassured of its success in the marketplace. If anything Good house Keeping has marketed over 125 years TRUST. If only everything out there was so much for the people as this simple magazine is.