There are elements/constituents interested in the study of consumer behavior and following is the importance of this study to regulatory bodies or laws and policy decisions to protect consumers from unfair, unsafe or inappropriate marketing practices. In 1960s, President Kennedy mandated that consumers have four basic rights: “the rights to safety, information and choice, and the right to be heard…”. Consumer study can provide important information that affects the protection of these rights. In protecting the right to be informed, consumer researchers have investigated the area of deceptive and misleading advertising determining how, when, and whether consumers are deceived or misled by advertising. An important issue in misleading advertising involves, establishing what impressions an ad creates and whether these impressions are true. For example, a nutritional product is targeted toward consumers who are HIV positive. A person depicted in the ad states that since he found out that he is HIV positive, he has tried to do everything he can do to “maintain my energy, strength, and quality of life”. Doctors are concerned that the ad will create the impression that the product will help every patient who has AIDS or tests HIV positive when this is not the case.
Consumer study has also investigated the area of advertising to children. Research has shown that “children under age of six do not have the cognitive abilities to understand that advertisements are trying to persuade them. Consequently, these young consumers need to be protected….”
Clearly, public policy decisions about consumer behavior affect marketers. Recent laws have stated that food products must conform to certain definitions before they can be labeled as “low fat” or “lite”. Moreover, companies ...