Today our buying behaviour can be manipulated by communication and advertising campaigns that are increasingly invasive and misleading. This is evidenced in, among other things, the ongoing ethical debate over certain marketing practices (such as over the recent neuromarketing) that may result in being irresponsible towards vulnerable groups of consumers.

In families, the person who is responsible for making everyday purchases (the so-called shopper) needs to know how to make the “right choice” in order to safeguard the health of family members. Particularly in the context of food purchases, irresponsible marketing practices can lead to a series of issues related to: (i) improper eating habits or (ii) unkept or untrue health promises (health claims). Generally speaking, it may happen that the buyer purchases food or beverages that do not meet real needs, or that he/she is misled in his/her purchase by deceptive advertising.

We are all vulnerable to these risks. But some groups of consumers are even more so, as is the case for children for example. Does marketing have ethical responsibilities towards these groups? For example, is it acceptable to induce children to adopt a certain style of eating by using marketing techniques that they are unable to understand and qualify?

Our research project is based on the assumption that, in order to protect vulnerable customers, we first need to undertake a thorough analysis of their eating habits and their exposure to marketing practices. We will study virtuous marketing cases, and deceptive ones. We will realize in-depth interviews with experts in the field of irresponsible marketing, and organize a series of focus groups with parents (shoppers) to identify their problems and needs.

Our goal is to develop the means to discriminate between responsible and irresponsible marketing practices, and to promote both consumer education and policies of social control over marketing. Consumers will benefit from this research because they will be able to make more informed and independent purchasing decisions. At the same time, responsibly acting firms benefit from our research because informed consumers purchase consciously and choose independently, and thus value ethical firm behaviour.

We will design a website that is meant to be constantly updated and that has the following contents: a space for dialogue; examples of irresponsible and virtuous marketing practices, an info-kit; a mini-report (see section Reward); university courses; and specific training courses for enterprises and local and international institutions.

Partner, co-financing, sponsors

Consumers’ Association Federconsumatori, http://www.federconsumatori.it/

LINK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVCVQ7TYCo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e2H_EqWlrg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKIkXvqruI
http://coberen.eu/