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CHOICE Announce 2015 Shonky Awards

Shonky Awards: Tiny Teddies, Coca-Cola, IKEA Win Dubious Honour
Empty Coca-Cola Classic cans stand ready for filling at Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd.'s production facility in the suburb of Moorabbin in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. Coca-Cola Amatil is scheduled to announce first-half results on Aug. 22. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Empty Coca-Cola Classic cans stand ready for filling at Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd.'s production facility in the suburb of Moorabbin in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012. Coca-Cola Amatil is scheduled to announce first-half results on Aug. 22. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It's an award no company wants to win, but some of our biggest companies have been granted a dubious honour.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE today announced their annual Shonky Awards, "honouring" the dodgiest business practises of the year.

"CHOICE's annual awards name and shame the shonkiest products and companies taking advantage of Australian consumers," the group proudly proclaims, with shonky referring to "Australian slang meaning unreliable, unsound, dishonest, poor or of dubious quality; shoddy'."

The Shonky's "Hall of Shame" of award recipients since 2006 includes Tim Tams, Kmart, Kleenex, Qantas, Nurofen and Toblerone, and today eight more winners have been added to the illustrious honour roll.

Arnott's Tiny Teddies, Coca-Cola, an IKEA "leather" couch, an NAB credit card and "flushable" wipes from Kleenex are among those in the CHOICE firing line, all ribbed mercilessly at a ceremony today in Sydney.

Arnott's was slapped for putting a sticker on its biscuits claiming they "meet amber guidelines" in new school canteen nutritional rules: "Actually, Arnott's did the approving all on its own, slapping on a 'school canteen -- meets amber guidelines' claim to help busy parents make the healthy choice in the supermarket," CHOICE said. A pair of teddy bears jumped on stage to dance around.

Coca-Cola won a Shonky for the company's claims that people should exercise more, rather than drinking fewer soft drinks, while IKEA's "leather" couches were found to be made of distinctly non-leather materials in polyester and polyurethane.

NAB was given a slap for raising the rates on its "low rate" credit cards as official interest rates fell to historic lows, and Nanosmart's line of laundry balls was also given a Shonky for one simple reason: in the words of Choice, "they don't work".

Kleenex's line of "flushable" wipes were also put to the test, with CHOICE claiming their own tests showed the wipes did not do what they promised.

Payday lenders and a Samsung washing machine rounded out the award winners.

Congratulations to all the proud winners!

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