Consumer Economic Wellbeing

Abstract

This chapter discusses potential effects of mass media on consumer economic wellbeing. Two categories of media, news media and advertisement, are examined. News media companies in the USA are privately owned and their major motivations are profit seeking. Some behavioral patterns described in the business chapter can also be found in news media companies. Among news media professionals, a group of people, labeled consumer journalists, serve as consumer advocates. In many circumstances, they promote consumer economic wellbeing even at the expenses of business interests sometimes. Advertisements are criticized by social science researchers as harmful to consumers in several aspects. However, in the advertisement industry, a concept of Advertisement Social Responsibility is proposed that have potential to improve consumer wellbeing and societal wellbeing. Advertisements can be categorized in many ways in different dimensions. This chapter reviews some of these types of ads and their effects on consumer behavior and wellbeing.