Norman Kangun, Keith K. Cox, James Higginbotham, and John Burton

Consumerism andMarketing Management

How do consumers perceive consumerism . . . and what are the implicationsof these perceptions for marketing managers?

D ESPITE predictions that today's con-sumer movement would subside as its pre-

decessor had subsided, consumerism continues togrow in both scope and support as society pro-ceeds through the 1970s. An earlier wave of theconsumer movement, stimulated by UptonSinclair's expose of the meat packing industry,created action and attention for a while and thendiminished. However, the current consumerismmovement appears to be becoming increasinglyinstitutionalized, as evidenced by the formationat all levels in govemment of new agencies torepresent and protect the consumer interest.Some examples are the Office of Consumer Af-fairs, now located in the Department of Health,Education, and Welfare, and the Consumer Prod-uct Safety Commission. The creation of a federalConsumer Protection Agency is likely in the nearfuture, while state and local govemment agenciesset up to protect consumer interests continue toexpand. Other countries are also struggling withadequate representation of consumer rights.'

Previous studies on consumerism focused onthe deficiencies of the market system, the specificcauses of consumerism, the semantic problemthat exists between businessmen and their critics,and general attitudes on the part of consumersabout specific marketing activities.^ The focus of

1. See, for example, Hans B. Thorelli, "Consumer Infor-mation Policy in Sweden—What Can Be Leamed?" JOURNAL

OF MARKETING, Vol. 35 (January 1971), pp. 50-55.2. See Andrew Shonfield, Modem Capitalism: The Chang-

ing Balance of Public and Private Power (New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1965); Philip Kotler, "What ConsumerismMeans for Marketers," Hansard Business Review. Vol. 50(May-June 1973), pp. 48-57; Raymond A. Bauer andStephen A. Greyser, "The Dialogue that Never Hap-pens," Han'ard Btisiness Rex'iew. Vol. 46 (January-February 1969), pp. 122-128; and Hiram C. Barksdale andWilliam R. Darden, "Consumer Attitudes Toward Market-

Journal of Marketing. Vol 39 (April 1975), pp 3-10.

the study reported here is on (1) the meaning ofconsumerism, (2) the importance of certain con-sumer issues, (3) the choice of corrective actionsas they relate to specific consumer problems, and(4) the perceived importance of the consumermovement today and in the future. The results ofthis study suggest some implications for the ac-tions marketing management can take to meetthe challenge of consumerism.

Research Methodology

A convenience sample of 367 respondents livingin the metropolitan area of a large southwestemcity was surveyed in 1973. The sample was com-posed of 241 students drawn from marketingclasses at a major state ixniversity in that city, 55nonemployed adult women, and 71 businessmen.The completed questionnaires from nonemployedwomen and businessmen were collected fromneighborhood civic clubs and professional busi-ness organizations in the area.

Table 1 presents a description of the demo-graphic characteristics of the subsamples. Thestudents were considerably younger and their in-come substantially lower than the other twogroups. The students' political philosophy as self-reported was slightly more liberal than that re-ported by the nonemployed women. Thebusinessmen were the most conservative, butperhaps not as consenative as might have beenpredicted. Both the nonemployed women andbusiness groups indicated higher income levelsthan the general household levels in the UnitedStates.^

The division of respondents into student,ing and Consumerism," JOURNAL OF MARKETING. Vol. 36 (Oc-tober 1972), pp. 28-35.

3. See Monroe Friedman, "The 1966 Consumer Protest asSeen by Its Leaders," Joumal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 5(Summer 1971), pp. 1-23.

Journal of Marketing, April 1975

TABLE 1CHARACTERISTICS OF SAMPLE RESPONDENTS

DemographicCharacteristics

AgeUnder 2525-3435-4445 and over

Total Annual Income(Household)

Under $10,000$10,000-$ 14,999$15,000-$24,999$25,000 and overNo response

Number in Family123456 or moreNo answer

Polit ica I Ph ilosop hyLiberalModerateConservativeNo response

Students(N = 2 4 1 )

66.4%30.7

2.5.4

38.627.819.111.23.3

15.430.720.318.36.26.62.5

20.868.1

7.43.7

NonemployedWomen(N = 55)

5.5%49.138.2

7.2

3.616.447.329.1

3.6

1.816.414.629.123.614.5

18.256.320.0

5.5

Businessmen(N = 71)

—%38.045.116.9

1.48.5

54.933.8

1.4

5.718.318.331.021.1

5.6

9.960.529.6

—

nonemployed women, and businessmen groupswill enable us to measure the extent to whichdifferent perceptions about consumerism existamong these groups. When perceptions amongthese segments are homogeneous, fertile groundexists for cooperative endeavors. Where beliefsdiffer among various groups, conflict and debateare likely to make the advancement of con-sumerism interests more difficult to attain.

The Meaning of Consumerism

The term consumerism is of recent vintage, asillustrated by its absence from many dic-tionaries."* In the marketing literature, there ap-pears to be no generally accepted operationaldefinition of consumerism. For example, Buskirkand Rothe define consumerism as "the organized

4. An example is the Random House Dictionary (NewYork: Random House, 1967).

• ABOUT THE AUTHORS.Norman Kangun and Keith K. Cox are professors ofmarketing in the College of Business Administration,University of Houston.James Higginbotham is president and John Burton isvice president of Higginbotham Associates. Houston.

efforts of consumers seeking redress, restitutionand remedy for dissatisfaction they have accumu-lated in the acquisition of their standard ofliving."-' This definition, like most, is highly am-biguous because it does not distinguish the issuesincluded within the domain of consumerism.

Table 2 summarizes the perceptions of the stu-dents, nonemployed women, and businessmenabout whether the issues of infonnation, healthand safety, repair and servicing, pricing, pollutionin the environment, marketing concentration,product quality, and consumer representation ingovemment definitely should be included ascomponents of a definition of consumerism. Themajority of respondents in each of the threegroups "definitely agree" that all of the issueslisted in the table, with the exception of "pollu-tion in the environment" and "market concentra-tion," should be considered within the domain ofconsumerism. Dififerences do exist among thethree groups in the exact proportion of respon-dents who believed the issues listed above shouldbe included in consumerism. Over 80% of the

5. Richard Buskirk and James Rothe, "Consumerism AnInterpretation," JOURNAL OF MARKETING. Vol. 34 (October1970), p. 62.

Consumerism and Marketing Management

TABLE 2CONSUMERS WHO DEFINITELY AGREE ISSUE SHOULD

BE INCLUDED UNDER CONSUMERISM

Issues

Information (such as moreinformative advertising,clearly written warranties,etc.)

Health and Safety (such astesting and evaluation ofdrugs, stronger auto bumpers,etc.)

Repair and Servicing (suchas improved servicing ofappliances and automobiles)

Pricing Issues (such as thehigh price of food, insurance,hospital care)

Pollution in the Environment(such as dirty air, water,excessive billboards)

Market Concentration (suchas lack of competition in themarketplace)

Product Quality (such asfrequent obsolescence,product breakdowns)

Consumer Representation inGovemment (such as a lackof consumer representation ingovemment agencies)

NonemployedStudents Women Businessmen(N = 241) ( N = 5 5 ) (N = 71)

82.2%

80.1

70.1

59.3

61.8

26.1

72.2

58.5

89.1%

92.7

85.5

81.8

47.3

45.5

89.1

69.1

95.8%

83.1

71.8

63.4

36.6

42.3

78.9

52.1

nonemployed women definitely agreed that in-formation, health and safety, product quality, re-pair and servicing, and pricing issues should beconsidered under the domain of consumerism.Agreement within the student and businessmengroups exceeded 80% on only two issues—information, and health and safety. As might beexpected as a result of their greater involvementin family shopping activities, more women thaneither businessmen or students associated pricingwith consumerism.

Further, more students placed the pollutionproblem under the domain of consumerism thaneither the women or businessmen. This may be afunction of the concem about ecological issuesraised on college campuses during the 1970s.

In summary, there appears to be a broad con-sensus among all three groups that the fourissues—information, health and safety, repairsand servicing, and product quality—definitely be-long under the domain of consumerism. Pricingissues were associated with consumerism by over80% of the women and by approximately 60% of

the students and businessmen. A majority in all ofthe groups definitely agreed that consumer rep-resentation in govemment should be included aspart of consumerism. On the issue of pollution inthe environment, large differences existed amongthe students, nonemployed women, and busi-nessmen as to whether this should be includedunder consumerism. According to a majority inall three groups, market concentration does notbelong under consumerism. Therefore, this issuewill be eliminated from further analysis.

Importance of Specific Issues toConsumers

Although a majority of respondents may indi-cate that an issue belongs under consumerism,this tells us little about how important the re-spondent perceives the issue to be. Accordingly,respondents were asked to rate each of the sevenissues listed in Table 3 in terms of its importanceto them. The proportion of businessmen whorated each issue extremely or very important was

Journal of Marketing, April 1975

TABLE 3CONSUMERS WHO RATED SPECIFIC ISSUES

EXTREMELY/VERY IMPORTANT

Specific Issues

InformationHealth and SafetyRepair and ServicingPricing IssuesPollution in the EnvironmentProduct QualityConsumer Representation in

Government

Students(N = 241)

84.7%85.987.580.978.985.560.2

NonemployedWomen(N = 55)

85.5%90.990.981.876.485.458.2

Businessmen(N=71)

76.1%75.185.964.864.876.139.4

substantially lower than the proportion of stu-dents or women for all issues except repair andservicing. All issues except consumer representa-tion in govemment were rated important by over75% of the students and nonemployed women,which seems to suggest a strong consensus forfuture action in these areas of interest. Althoughbusinessmen rated the importance of pollutionlower than the other two groups, it is interestingthat 65% did rate the issue important becauseonly 37% of the businessmen definitely agreedthat this issue should be considered part of con-sumerism. There was a considerable lack of con-sensus both within and between groups as to theimportance of consumer representation in gov-emment. The businessmen generally preferredless rather than more governmental involvement,but this issue may pose additional threats to theirexisting business policies and practices.

Choice of Corrective Actions

There are no easy or simple solutions to thevast array of problems that consumers confrontin the marketplace. The remedies available toconsumers in dealing with such problems arelimited. They range from taking no action, takingmoderate action (i.e., complaining to the retaileror writing the manufacturer), or taking strong ac-tion (i.e., selective buying routines, boycotts, orlegal action).

To ascertain the remedies that consumersmight seek, four situations were created. Respon-dents were presented with a list of possible ac-tions and asked to select from that list thoseactions they would most likely take in each situa-tion. The four situations are described below:

Situation 1: A color-tuning component in yourtelevision set was malfunctioning. The retailerfrom whom the set was bought was called in to

fix the set. Two months later, the new color-tuning device would not work. The dealer re-fused to repair the set without an additionalservice charge and a charge for the cost ofanother color-tuning device.Sittiation 2: You bought a brand name re-frigerator at a leading department store on in-stallment credit. The refrigerator was deliveredto your home three weeks later, but you noticedthat the contract called for interest to be paidfrom the date on which you signed the contract.In effect, you were paying interest for threeweeks without the merchandise in your posses-sion.Situation 3: The retail cost of meat items hasincreased 25% over the last two months.Operating on a fixed budget for food, you find itdifficult to buy meat items for your family andstay within your budget constraints. Because ofthe importance of meat as a source of protein,you are reluctant to substitute nonmeat itemsfor meat.

Situation 4: You bought a doll for yourdaughter's birthday. Soon aftei-wards, the headbecame disengaged from the doll, revealing asharp metal nail which was used as a fastenerfor the head and the body. Fortunately, the dollwas taken from the child before she sustainedan injury.

As Table 4 shows, in all of the situations exceptrising meat prices, the vast majority of respon-dents in each group preferred either moderate ac-tion or no action at all. This finding is not surpris-ing for a number of reasons. Consumers maybelieve that most consumer problems can besolved without resorting to strong action, whichis likely to be costly to them in terms of time andmoney. To the extent that many consumer prob-lems involve relatively small amounts of money

Consumerism and Marketing Management

CORRECTIVE

Situations

Television MalfunctionNo action"Moderate action*"Strong action*^

Illegal Interest ChargesNo actionModerate actionStrong action

Rising Meat PricesNo actionModerate actionStrong action

Doll Safety HazardNo actionModerate actionStrong action

TABLE 4ACTION CHOSEN IN

Students(N = 241)

9.7%84.5

5.8

22.267.710.1

47.96.6

46.5

20.073.3

6.7

FOUR SITUATIONS

NonemployedWomen(N = 55)

2.2%94.2

3.6

8.489.8

1.8

46.813.240.0

11.883.6

4.6

Businessmen(N= 71)

10.0%84.0

6.0

18.378.2

3.5

71.510.218.3

19.980.1

—

Wo action encompasses the following behaviors: (a) probably take no action because it isunlikely to get results, or (b) probably take no action because of the time and expense involved.^'Moderate action includes the following: (a) write or call the manufacturer, (b) complaindirectly to the dealer, or (c) call the Better Business Bureau or a local consumer protectionagency.'^Strong action includes the following: (a) take legal action, that is, initiate a class action suitor go to a small claims court; or (b) take economic measures, e.g., participate in a boycott.

for the individual, strong action usually is noteconomically feasible. Many consumers are notaware of the legal remedies available to them indealing with consumer problems. Finally, someconsumers may hold fatalistic outlooks and be-lieve little can be done to alleviate the excessesthat occur in the marketplace.

By contrast, the situation involving rising meatprices seemed to provoke more students andwomen to choose stronger actions. With real in-comes declining as a result of rising prices, thisbudget squeeze creates fioistration, which givesrise to stronger actions against the visible andvulnerable supermarket. A substantial minority ofthe women and students preferred stronger actionas a means of making their feelings known.

The businessmen appeared to be much morereluctant to use strong action such as boycotts incoping with rising meat prices. As businessmen,they may be more sympathetic to the problems ofretailers. Thus, they probably are unwilling tosupport the concept of economic boycotts.

In summary, there was a strong tendency in allsituations except the meat problem to "workwithin the system" by taking no action or someform of moderate action such as contacting themanufacturer, retailer, or Better Business Bureau.This tendency for no action or moderate action

was consistently high among the student, nonem-ployed women, and businessmen groups.

The Importance of ConsumerismToday and in the Future

After analyzing what the respondents perceivedto be issues under consumerism, their personaljudgment as to the importance of these issues,and their choices of corrective action to four con-sumer situations, the researchers asked all of therespondents to give their opinions as to the im-portance of consumerism today and in the future.The answers to these two questions give insightinto consumers' viewpoints as to whether con-sumerism is a temporary or permanent phe-nomenon. Table 5 shows that approximately 85%of the students and nonemployed women believedthat consumerism was extremely or very impor-tant today. Perhaps more surprising is the factthat 70% of the businessmen shared this view.Given these figures, the importance of con-sumerism today seems to permeate all threegroups of consumers.

But, is the present consumerism movementlikely to recede in importance over time? Table 5indicates that a large majority of respondents inall three groups believed the importance of con-

Journal of Marketing, April 1975

TABLE 5PRESENT AND FUTURE IMPORTANCE OF CONSUMERISM

Statements

How important do you believeConsumerism is today?

Believe to be extremely/very important

In the future, do you believethat Consumerism will be moreor less important than it istoday?

Believe to be much more/slightly more important.

NonemployedStudents Women Businessmen(N = 2 4 1 ) (N = 55) (N = 7 1 )

84.2% 85.4%

83.8 78.2

70.4%

66.2

sumerism would be greater in the future. Aboutfour-fifths of the students and women expressed,this belief, while two-thirds of the businessmenconcurred.

Problems associated with affluence, such as in-creased product complexity and rising consumerexpectations, are likely to continue. Thus, the be-lief in the increased importance of consumerismin the future by all three groups may be wellfounded.

Implications for MarketingManagement

The data uncovered in this survey seem to indi-cate that: (1) consumerism, like marketing, is per-ceived to encompass a wide variety of issues andis broadening its domain; (2) consumers perceivethe specific consumerism issues to be important:and (3) consumerism is here to stay and will growin strength in the future. For many marketingmanagers, caveat emptor is an inappropriatephilosophy today. Because the pressures to attendto consumer problems are likely to remain, theobligations of marketers, particularly consumergoods marketers, will change drastically. Further,it behooves marketing managers to be sensitive tothe demands of consumers since marketing is atthe interface between the company and its exter-nal environment.

Two frameworks for evaluating possible alter-native courses of action for marketing manage-ment are (1) company action and (2) industry-wide action.

Company Action

Implementation of the marketing concept im-plies that a firm is responding to consumer wantsand needs. Profit and sales opportunities exist for

those who can develop and communicate broadconsumer programs that satisfy consumer needs.For example. Giant Foods—a supermarket chainbased in Washington, D.C.—has pioneered in thedevelopment of a comprehensive, consumer-oriented program. Under the guidance of EstherPeterson, former head of the federal Office of Con-sumer Affairs, Giant Foods was among the first inthe industry to institute unit-pricing and open-dating programs—long before govemment pres-sures were placed on the industry to adopt suchprograms.* The company also has been instru-mental in promoting nutritional labels and hasspent substantial amounts of money to educatethe public.

A second reason for individual firms to react tothe challenges posed by consumerism is tominimize govemment action. From the firm'sperspective, govemment regulation is, at best, amixed blessing. Govemment agencies can defineand make explicit acceptable and unacceptablenorms of conduct whether they are related tosales practices, advertising, packaging, labeling,or the like. These agencies also can be insensitive,inept, and burdensome. If individual firms wantto minimize governmental controls on consumerissues, they must address many consumer prob-lems. What can firms do to improve their repairand servicing capacities? Can product warrantiesbe written to tell consumers precisely what themanufacturer's liability is and not simply to limitthe producer's liability? Can package sizes besimplified and standardized to allow consumersto choose more economically if they wish to doso? Can simpler designs and more reliable prod-ucts be developed? Can additional product in-

6 Esther Peterson, "Consumerism as a Retailer's Asset,"Harvard Business Review, Vol. 51 (May-June 1974), pp.91-101.

Consumerism and Marketing Management

formation be provided? How can firms minimizethe safety and health hazards of products such astoys, flammable products, and appliances? Canthe organizational structures of large retail estab-lishments be altered to permit greater contactwith customers and easier ways of dealing withproblems?

Finally, it is in the long-term best interest of thefirm to develop programs that are responsive toconsumer problems. If consumer frustrations arenot dealt with, the firm may suffer as a result ofreduced sales and lower profits.

Consumerism requires a greater awareness bymarketing managers and businesspeople of hap-penings in the marketplace. A number of com-panies are responding to these challenges bymodifying their organizational structures to bemore responsive to consumer problems. In onesurvey of 157 companies, of which 109 were con-sumer goods companies, 29 have created one ormore organizational positions or departments todeal with consumer problems.^ With respect tosuch departments, some companies indicatedthat they had established a separate office of con-sumer affairs or a customer relations department.A second study reported the results of a question-naire sent to the presidents of 400 of the nation'slargest corporations that resulted in 96 responses.It revealed that 54 of these firms had a "corporateresponsibility officer" whose task was, amongother things, to report to the corporation's manypublics how well the company was fulfilling itssocietal obligations.* Another 34 firms utilized acommittee arrangement for this purpose.

By itself, the creation of an organizational posi-tion or department with the word cotisumer in thetitle does not mean a great deal. In some com-panies, such positions may be established as apublic relations gambit. To be effective in dealingwith consumer problems, a firm must understandthe real problems, not just their superficial symp-toms. For instance, the Whirlpool "cool line" pro-vides customers with immediate personal contactwith the firm should they experience problemswith their appliances. In addition to handlingproblems promptly, the "cool line" tackles theimpersonality problem that often afflicts large or-ganizations.

If the organization is to address fundamentalconsumer problems, it must identify these prob-

7. Frederick E. Webster, Jr., "Does Business Misunder-stand Consumerism?" Harvard Business Re\'iew, Vol. 50(September-October 1973), pp. 89-97.

8. Henry Eilbert and I. Robert Parket, The CorporateResponsibility Officer: A New Position on the Organiza-tional Chart," Business Horizons. Vol. 16 (February 1973),pp.45-51.

lems and establish priorities among them. Such agoal requires the development of information sys-tems that are oriented toward obtaining informa-tion about various aspects of consumer discon-tent. What is needed is a research group with abroad, on-going mission aimed at identifyingbasic consumer problems, detecting changes inattitudes and life styles, and developing newmeasures for determining the seriousness of theseproblems. Firms need to be able to anticipateconsumer problems and convert them intoprofitable opportunities.^

After consumer problems have been identified,the firm must develop and implement programsto deal with these problems. The development ofsuch programs requires innovative thinking aswell as a leadership group that looks favorably onchange.'"

Industrywide ActionA second way of dealing with consumer prob-

lems is industrywide action. There are manyreasons for marketers to tum to trade associa-tions and other business groups to deal withconsumer problems. First, many problems arecommon to a particular industry. Consider theeducational problems associated with nutritionallabeling or the informational problems associatedwith maintaining up-to-date credit records. Itmakes sense for members of the industry to grap-ple with these problems jointly. Second, andperhaps more important, consumer programs ini-tiated by an individual company will involvecosts; unless emulated by competition, these costscan threaten the competitive position of thatcompany. Thus, where uncertainty exists aboutcompetitors' actions, the incentive to act inde-pendently is diminished. Consequently, indus-trywide action in dealing with consumer prob-lems is attractive because it can be undertaken byfirms without threatening their competitive pos-tures.

The potential for industrywide action is great.Trade associations are in a good position to de-velop educational materials and then workthrough dealers to improve both the quality and

9. For an extension of this idea, see Philip Kotler, Market-ing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control, 2nd ed.(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972), pp. 58-62; andDaniel Yankelovich, "The Changing Social Environment,"Marketing News, March 1971, reprinted in Readings in Mar-keting Research Process, Keith Cox and Ben Enis, eds.(Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear, 1972).

10. For a more extensive discussion of company initia-tives regarding consumer problems, see David A. Aaker andGeorge S. Day, "Corporate Responses to Consumerism Pres-sures," Harvard Business Re\'ie\v, Vol. 49 (November-December 1972), pp. 114-124.

10 Journal of Marketing, April 1975

flow of information about products to consumers.Witness the efforts of the National Commissionon Egg Nutrition to educate consumers about theimportance of protein in one's diet. Further, anarbitration board, to which injured consumerscan tum as a last resort, is often best handledthrough business associations. The cost of sup-porting the board is shared and, because it rep-resents all or most of the membership in a givenindustry, its power to get members to adhere toits rulings is enhanced. As an illustration, themoving and storage industry (i.e., the largestfirms in that industry) has set up an arbitrationboard to act as a court of last resort should aconsumer fail to resolve a complaint with hismover. Similarly, the advertising industry hascreated the National Advertising Review Board,whose function is to monitor advertisements andto investigate complaints about advertising. If anadvertiser- is found to be in violation of boardstandards and refuses to change or withdraw hisad, that action is published and the case is tumedover to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Inthe Schick case, the board came out lookingtougher than the FTC, which showed a reluctanceto act. In this case, the board found the Schickcomparative ad campaign for its Flexamatic elec-tric shaver to be "false in some respects and mis-leading in its overall implications" regarding thecloseness of its shave when tested against com-petitive shavers."

The traditional role of the Better BusinessBureau is perhaps the best example of industry-

11. For a more detailed report on the Schick case, see"Competitors Hail NARB for Schick Shaver Ruling," Adver-tising Age, January 7, 1974, pp. 1, 6; and Stanley E. Cohen."NARB's Schick Ruling Highlights Secrecy of FTC's Regu-lations Role," Advertising Age, January 7, 1974, p. 16.

wide action taken by firms to deal with consum-ers. However, many critics today hold that theBetter Business Bureau is set up primarily to pro-tect the businessman. Perhaps business shouldreevaluate the function and purpose of the BetterBusiness Bureau in terms of today's consumerproblems.

Today, the question for business is not whetherto undertake efforts to identify and correct con-sumer problems but how to make such efforts ef-fective, particularly if firms are to survive thejoint pressures exerted by consumerists and gov-emment. Consumer education, the establish-ment of product standards in terms of quality,and the development of programs for handlingconsumer complaints are all areas whereindustrywide efforts may be productive.

Conciusion

Those consumerism issues for which there is abroad acceptance of needs and the cost of imple-menting solutions is not too great are logicalplaces for many firms to voluntarily take actions.It appears from the survey results that companyactions in the areas of product information,health and safety standards, repair and servicingwarranties, and product quality may be verybeneficial in terms of long-run company goals. Onthe other hand, consumerism issues for whichbroad consensus does not exist and the costswould be high are not likely to be addressed vol-untarily by a business firm. The pollution issueappears to be an area where govemment actionmay be necessary and desirable. In any case,businesses should act to protect consumers fromabuses in the marketplace. If businesses do notrespond, govemment forces will undoubtedly act.