Passive Consumers, Vulnerabilities and Public Policies

Abstract

In this paper we examine a "new" source of consumer vulnerability: the "secondary" consumption of harmful "micro" addictive products and the "primary" consumption of certain "macro" products that are the byproducts of our postindustrial civilization. We define consumer vulnerability of these products in relation to its cognates, disadvantage and detriment, introduce the theory of market imperfections to explain the factual domains of both "micro" and "macro" harmful products to identify the "new" vulnerable consumers, investigate the social concerns surrounding these products, and explore some feasible solutions for protecting them from their vulnerabilities.