Consumer Protection or Endangerment?

We have talked in class about whether there should be laws regarding what products can be produced.  If there is a market, should anything/everything be able to be produced and sold?

There is currently controversy over whether apps alerting consumers to police checkpoints should be allowed. "Locate Speed traps, speed cameras, DUI/DWI check points, red light cameras, active police vehicles and police enforcement areas." is how FuzzAlert advertises themselves.  PhantomAlert is another company producing similar software.  They claim that their product is to discourage drivers from drinking and driving.  Four U.S. Senators have called for Apple to pull the apps from their devices, saying that alerting drunk drivers to the fact that police have a checkpoint set up is potentially dangerous for other people on the road who could be victims of the drunk drivers.

What do you think?  Should we have software that alerts consumers to police checkpoints, speed cameras, etc.?

7 Rip-offs and 20 Worst Drinks

Imelda sent me this great article on ways that consumers get ripped-off in the supermarket.  Have you fallen for any of them?  I have a friend who swears by 5-hour energy drinks.  Now I know that I can just offer her a cup of coffee and save her a lot of money.

I thought you might also find this interesting - the 20 worst drinks in America.  Have you had any of them?  Did you realize what you were consuming (in grams of sugar, etc.)? 

1 Rockstar Energy drink = the sugar in 6 Krispy Kreme donuts. Wow.

Don't even think about having a Dairy Queen Moolatte.

Healthy or Wholesome?

We've talked about some of the downsides associated with terms like "low-cal" and "low-fat" and "healthy:"  Consumer associate lack of flavor with all of those terms.  Given a choice between something that is low-fat and something that is not, people might choose the low-fat option but they will assume that it won't taste as good as the regular option.

Sadie sent me an article the other day regarding a newer marketing tactic.  Enter a new set of terms that are being used to describe food.  Wholesome. Fresh. Natural, Premium. Local.  All of these words stir up images of things that are "good" and yet that taste good.  Terms such as this are vague and hard to define so they avoid accusations of not being true while conjuring up "tasty" images.

Thoughts?