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Reasonable Consumer or Ignorant Consumer? How The FTC Decides
Author(s) -
PRESTON IVAN L.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.1974.tb00536.x
Subject(s) - commission , foolishness , law and economics , population , economics , advertising , business , law , political science , psychology , social psychology , sociology , demography
This article examines the alternatives which have been available to the Federal Trade Commission in deciding what members of the consuming public it is committed to protecting. The choice has been between the “reasonable man standard,” under which it protects only those who act reasonably in the marketplace and not those who act foolishly, and the “ignorant man standard,” under which it protects all consumers without regard for the reasonableness or foolishness of their behavior. A third possibility is a standard lying between these two, under which the Commission protects consumers acting foolishly provided such actions are committed not by stray individuals but by substantial segments of the population.