The Journal of Consumer Affairs articles from December 2003

The Journal of Consumer Affairs archives from December 2003

Marketing--one consumer disaster.(Colston E. Warne Lecture)
December 22, 2003... THE INDICTMENT Since Adam Smith, the universally accepted goal of any economy has been consumer sovereignty, meaning that consumers succeed in purchasing what they truly want. Truly denotes that consumers would choose under FU/FI...

Who pays for credit cards?
December 22, 2003... The authors model side payments in a competitive credit-card market. If competitive retailers absorb the cost of accepting credit cards by charging a higher goods price to everyone, then someone must subsidize convenience users of credit cards...

How credit access has changed over time for U.S. households.
December 22, 2003... The financial industry made a number of efforts throughout the 1990s to provide additional borrowing opportunities to households traditionally constrained by the credit markets. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), this study...

A two-step estimation of consumer adoption of technology-based service innovations.
December 22, 2003... Firms initially offer new technology-based services to a limited number of customers to reduce risks and maximize their returns on the investments in the new technology. Consequently, consumers' adoption of new technology-based services is...

Single mothers, emergency food assistance, and food stamps in the welfare reform era.
December 22, 2003... This article documents the characteristics, circumstances, and factors linked to concurrent use of food stamps among single-mother food pantry clients in Wisconsin in 1999. Most of these mothers use food pantries as an alternative, rather than...

How do front and back package labels influence beliefs about health claims?
December 22, 2003... One dilemma with health claims is that too much information can confuse consumers and too little information can mislead them. A controlled study is used to examine the effectiveness of various front-sided health claims when used in combination...

Willingness to pay for non-biotech foods in the U.S. and U.K.
December 22, 2003... This study uses closed-ended and payment card formats to elicit willingness to pay for breakfast cereals made from non-biotech ingredients. U.S. consumers were willing to pay a 10% ~ 12% premium to avoid biotech breakfast cereals, whereas U.K....

Double-Cola and antitrust issues: staying alive in the soft drink wars.
December 22, 2003... This case study is the story of the underdog in the soft drink wars. It is a testament to the meaning of brands and the lengths that loyal consumers go to for Double-Cola, one of many small regional brands that struggle to compete againts...

Consumer interests and the ethical implications of marketing: a contingency framework.
December 22, 2003... The increasing efforts by marketers to target diverse groups of consumers call for a closer examination of the ethical implications of market segmentation and differentiated marketing. Previous research suggests that marketers and consumers...

How well do consumers protect themselves from identity theft?(Bits, Briefs, And Applications)
December 22, 2003... Identity theft is a serious and increasingly prevalent crime, and consumers need to take preventative measures to minimize the chance of becoming a victim. In an effort to assess consumer preparedness, this exploratory study measured the...

The prevalence of sexual imagery in ads targeted to young adults.
December 22, 2003... To determine if advertisers use sexual imagery to appeal to youth, 2,863 ads in magazines read by young and mature adults were compared. Results indicate that ads targeted to young adults were 65% more likely to contain provocatively dressed...

The First Amendment and FTC weight-loss advertising regulation.
December 22, 2003... The contemporary American ideal of feminine beauty is a skinny, but voluptuous model like Heidi Klum or Tyra Banks, and the ideal man is a cross between the good looks of Brad Pitt and the raw athletic prowess of Derek Jeter or Michael Jordan....

Desires versus the reality of self-regulation.(Editorial Postlude)
December 22, 2003... By now everyone interested in consumer research has heard the often-repeated news that there is an epidemic of obesity in the United States. In addition, numerous people who are not grossly overweight wish they were thinner. While some people...