TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/060391/0603630.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 3.5 KB | 77 lines

                                                                                IDEAS, Page 65

When Kids Do the Testing


For the best bet in peanut butter or the word on the wasteful
packaging of fast food, check out Zillions


    For weeks, all Karen Reid of Oak Ridge, Tenn., heard from her
son Scott, she says, was, "Reebok Pumps this, Reebok Pumps
that." The fourth-grader wanted her to buy him a pair of the
flashy high tops and explaining why she refused to part with
$150 for athletic shoes got her nowhere. Then Scott read that
the Pump was heavy and can be uncomfortable. End of tug-of-war.

     What convinced Scott was an article in Zillions, a
consumer report for kids that evaluates everything from peanut
butter to video games. The bimonthly magazine (circ. 250,000)
is published by the nonprofit Consumers Union, which has been
doling out advice to adults in its Consumer Reports for the past
55 years. The difference is that Zillions delivers buying tips
with savvy humor and snazzy graphic designs and that the
products are tested by an unusual group of experts: the kids
themselves. Says Peggy Charren, president of Action for
Children's Television: "Zillions figured out how to attract
youngsters to information they need and does it with elan."

     Zillions, based in Mount Vernon, N.Y., started life in
1980 as a less ambitious magazine called Penny Power but was
revamped and renamed last year. Says editor Charlotte Baecher,
a onetime high school English teacher: "We realized that the
magazine could be doing a lot more." She expanded reviews,
advice columns and increased the number of products being
tested. The magazine, she says, tells kids, "Look, we know
what's going on in your world. We know you've got zillions of
pressures, and we're going to help you sort them out."

     From the start, Zillions' readers, most of them 10 to 14
years old, were put to work. Any of them are welcome to join the
2,200-strong Z-Team, as the collection of potential product
testers is known. Most are asked only to answer surveys about
how they spend their money and what they think of various
consumer goods. A lucky 100 are chosen to be official testers,
who must follow strict rules in their evaluations.

     Zillions believes its readers are concerned about the
environment. For a story in the April-May issue, a dozen kids
visited 24 Burger Kings, Hardee's, McDonald's and Wendy's to
order meals and thereby investigate recycling in the fast-food
industry. With their food, they reported, came a mound of
wasteful packaging, scores of napkins and 55 packets of ketchup.
Of all outlets only one had recycling bins.

     One of editor Baecher's goals is to help kids become aware
of the hard sells and soft sells that are everywhere. A regular
feature, "The Sneaky Sell," has reported on hidden ads, called
advertorials, that appear in kids' publications purporting to be
part of the contents. For the investment-minded youngster,
"Money Talk" follows the progress -- or lack thereof -- of
earnings from $500 that the magazine put into various accounts
last spring. (A mutual fund for stocks has dropped behind
money-market and other financial investments.) And if a pal
borrows money and does not pay it back, the magazine proposes
ways to deal with that too. Tell your friend how you feel is the
word from one Z-Team member and "be honest." Straight talk, kid
to kid, is what Zillions is all about.

     By Emily Mitchell. Reported by Kathryn Jackson Fallon/New
York