The Pros And Cons Of Consumer Safety

Register to read the introduction… While the cons include unavoidable negative publicity, actual and potential damage to the company’s business and image on one hand, and on the other hand, it brings about social and ethical responsibility to consumers on product awareness and use. In addition, negative publicity usually has the tendency to damage the corporate image and consumer perception due to the media bias in the presentation of information in which the negative information is unfairly weighted more than positive information, in the evaluation of people, objectives, and ideas. It constitutes an added, and unexpected financial burden on the company, stemming from the cost of repackaging, reproduction and other logistics. In terms of the legal prospective, it limits liability for corporate negligence, hence decreasing legal penalty costs. Based on the utilitarian perspective, the ethical corporate action in this situation is the one that produces the greatest good and does the least harm for all who are or potentially affected-customers, employees, shareholders, the community, and the environment which in this case is a recall to protect the consumers. Also, based on the rights perspective, it is the right of the consumers to know the truth; which in this case, revealing information about potential lead traces in the metal whistler was an act of respecting consumer rights. Financially, the company stands a potential of suffering a big loss which could cause decrease in company stocks or potentially, company …show more content…
With regards to negative company publicity, consumers usually respond to recalls based on their previous relationship or assertive values of the company. When a consumer is committed to a company brand, the consumer automatically counter-argues negative information about that brand. These defensive processes moderate the ill effects of the negative information in that it decreases the possibilities of attitude degradation. However, consumers with a low commitment to the company brand products, usually counter-argue such information to a lesser degree as a result inadequate interest for the product. When consumer commitment to a product is high, it could lead to absence of the negativity effect as well as considerations of positive information about that product being a more diagnostic issue than negative