Effectof the Federal Trade Commission
Effectof the Federal Trade Commission
Inthe current digitalized economy, consumer information is critical tocompanies seeking relevance and surviving the competition. TheFederal Trade Commission has been committed to protecting consumerprivacy interests against companies struggling and competing forsurvival since the 1970s. This strategy is necessary because consumerinformation is available through accessing their purchasing behaviorand browsing habits. Companies can collect, analyze, combine, use,and share such information invisibly.
Amongthe most effective tactics are law enforcement and enlightening theconsumers with primary online business education. Protecting customerinformation to enable them to gain confidence in the advanced form ofthe marketplace required policy initiatives.
Failure
TheFederal Trade Commission erred in creating the notice-and-choicemodel. Although it constrained companies to set up and publicizetheir private notices in detail, the consumers ignored the long anddetailed documents. Another model (the harm-based model) designed toprotect the consumers from physical harm, economic insecurity, andunnecessary intrusions failed to include the wide-range ofprivacy-related issues (Turow et al., 2014).
Junkfood
TheFederal Trade Commission revealed that food and beverage companiesinvested $1.9 billion in marketing intended for children in 2009(FTC, 2010). While there has been a decrease in the number over theyears, fast-food stores have increased their spending with at least$5 billion. They have exploited every possible method ofadvertisement from text messaging, smartphone applications to bannersand websites. The announcement has been, to date, ineffective.
Theinsignificance of the efforts to reduce consumption of junk foodthrough discouraging advertisements aimed at children is evident. According to the 2010 FTC report, the average child is accessible toat least three fast-food ads daily accounting for 33% of the obesechildren.
References
FederalTrade Commission. (2010). ProtectingConsumer Privacy in an Era: A proposed Framework for business andPolicymakers.A Preliminary FTC Staff Report
Turow,J., Hoofnagle, C., Mulligan, D., Good, N., & Grossklags, J.(2014). The Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Privacy in theComing Decade. I/S: AJournal of Law and Policy, 3.3, 724-749.