CleanFriend built a fake 'test site' to crown its own products — Denmark went to police

CleanFriend ApS, a Danish seller of vacuum cleaners and electronics founded in 2024, wanted 'best in test' badges — so it built the tester. The company created bedstitests.dk, a website designed to look like an independent consumer test portal, where its own products were ranked highest as 'test winners' and 'best in test' without objective testing. The imitation went further: the site used green logos and phrasing confusingly similar to Forbrugerrådet Tænk, Denmark's real consumer organisation.

The fabricated titles went to work: 59 advertisements on Facebook and Instagram and CleanFriend's own webshop marketed the products as test winners, and the webshop carried a 'recommended by' banner linking to bedstitests.dk, implying an independent third-party endorsement. When the Consumer Ombudsman began asking questions, CleanFriend closed the fake site just before the inquiry arrived.

On 15 June 2026 the Ombudsman reported the company to the police for hidden advertising and misleading marketing under sections 5, 6(4) and 8 of the Marketing Practices Act: consumers understand a 'test' as an objective assessment, and a company recommending its own products can never be an unbiased recommendation. CleanFriend has since reviewed its marketing practices.