Certification: A Panacea for a Paranoid Society?
The “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” was launched in 1909 by Good Housekeeping Magazine. The publication, a first in consumer protection (in the early Spring of social advocacy) guaranteed satisfactory use of products that bore their Seal. The guarantee states that “if any product that bears our Seal or is advertised in this issue (with certain exceptions) proves to be defective within two years from the date it was first sold to a consumer by an authorized retailer, we, Good Housekeeping, will replace the product or refund the purchase price.”