Why Consumer Reports hopes brands will pay to boast about reliability

Consumer Reports, the 90-year-old product-ratings magazine, touts the fact that it’s run by a nonprofit, purchases all products it tests (rather than accepting freebies from manufacturers), and does not accept advertising, and that independence seems to resonate with consumers.

In a survey asking US respondents to identify trusted sources of product reviews for tech products, 69.7% selected Consumer Reports, far more than chose the Wall Street Journal (38.6%) or the New York Times/Wirecutter (29.6%), according to a poll conducted by research firm Audience Audit for Proper Propaganda, a public relations agency specializing in technology companies.

For decades, CR had prohibited brands from mentioning its ratings in advertising, but in 2021 rolled out a licensing program that loosened the restriction. If a product earned a “recommended” rating, brands could purchase the right to mention the rating in ads and other marketing materials along with a check-mark graphic, “CR Recommended.”

Now CR is extending its licensing program, and it’s not just for products, but rather entire categories. Appliance makers in five kitchen categories that have earned the magazine’s most reliable brand distinction can pay licensing fees to trumpet the ranking in marketing materials, along with a badge that includes the CR logo and a check mark. There are subcategories within the five categories, with the refrigerator category, for example, including top- and bottom-freezer versions, side-by-sides, and built-ins.

It’s large appliances for which consumers are “looking for reliability information the most,” Rob Gentile, general manager of licensing and advisory services at Consumer Reports, told Retail Brew.

“It’s an expensive purchase…and it’s a real hassle when something goes wrong,” Gentile said. “On the washing machine side, obviously you can’t do your laundry for a week—which in my house becomes like a nightmare. There’s the hassle factor as well as the high cost of repair.”

If it ain’t broke: For appliance shoppers, long-term reliability is the primary factor that drives purchase decisions, cited by nearly half (46%) of consumers, with price/value far behind at second, cited by 26%, according to a 2026 survey of US adults by Curion, a consumer research and product-testing firm.

CR bases its reliability ratings not on product testing but rather survey data from CR’s readership, which it calls “members.” It surveys members annually, with the rankings drawing on their experiences with more than 269,000 appliances they own. Based on those surveys, CR calculates the likelihood of new appliances developing problems within five years of purchase.

While this is the first time it’s offering licensing rights for No. 1 in reliability for kitchen appliances, it has done so for several years for a few product categories including TVs, for which LG has been licensing the CR reliability check for “a few years,” per Gentile.

No kitchen appliance brands have signed licensing deals for the reliability mark at the time this was published. Entry level license deals will enable using the CR mark for owned websites and marketing emails; bigger investments for the brands would enable more liberal use, including in advertising and retailers’ product pages.

Among the kitchen brands eligible for the inaugural license (through 2027) for one or more categories are LG, GE, Thermador, and Fisher & Paykel.

Double exposure: When brands purchase the right to license its mark, it benefits CR too, and not just because it helps fund the nonprofit.

Particularly for younger consumers, seeing a brand highlight its ratings on a website or in a store display is exposure CR values.

“We’re a relatively smaller nonprofit; we don’t have our own huge marketing budgets to promote our own brand,” said Gentile, adding that CR especially wants to resonate with younger consumers who’ve grown up with myriad product review sources.

“In a world where consumers are relying on brand influencers now more than ever and other sources, how does Consumer Reports show up…to those consumers in the journey?” Gentile said. “We believe that this is one way to do that.”