AMiable Solution #148: Check Your Bill

These days, there’s much legal debate about the contents of the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.  As adults, we take these rights, and what happens to them, very personally and passionately.

But there’s another bill of rights that also deserves our attention as marketers: the Consumer Bill of Rights. 

President John F. Kennedy started the conversation about consumers’ rights on March 15, 1962, when he spoke to Congress about his vision to protect the consumer interest.  It was the first time any politician had done so. 

At the time, President Kennedy said, “Marketing is increasingly impersonal. Consumer choice is influenced by mass advertising utilizing highly developed arts of persuasion. The consumer typically cannot know whether drug preparations meet minimum standards of safety, quality, and efficacy. He usually does not know how much he pays for consumer credit; whether one prepared food has more nutritional value than another; whether the performance of a product will in fact meet his needs; or whether the ‘large economy size’ is really a bargain.”

He envisioned a set of standards that addressed the way all Americans wanted and deserved to be treated:

“(1) The right to safety--to be protected against the marketing of goods which are hazardous to health or life.

(2) The right to be informed--to be protected against fraudulent, deceitful, or grossly misleading information, advertising, labeling, or other practices, and to be given the facts he needs to make an informed choice.

(3) The right to choose--to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of products and services at competitive prices; and in those industries in which competition is not workable and Government regulation is substituted, an assurance of satisfactory quality and service at fair prices.

(4) The right to be heard--to be assured that consumer interests will receive full and sympathetic consideration in the formulation of Government policy, and fair and expeditious treatment in its administrative tribunals.”

President Kennedy’s speech made its intended impact: today there are eight generally-accepted consumer rights recognized by organizations around the world.

Although these rights are now, more than 50 years later, almost taken for granted, the overall perception of marketing, although significantly more “personal,” hasn’t changed much.  People are still skeptical of “too good to be true” claims, privacy-threatening information gathering, and invasive communication strategies.  It’s up to all of us to make sure we approach our consumers with not only the highest regard for their rights, but also for their respect.