98 Journal of Marketing, July 1975

themselves to 'news blocks' in drive time." In radio ter-minology, "drive time" refers to the major auto commuterperiods, namely, 6:00-9:00 a.m. and 4:00-6:00 p.m.

Research cited in the report suggests that radio has amedia stronghold in the early morning time period. Radio'sstrength in that period "is linked to auto commuting, andtherefore to urban areas, and therefore to residents of met-ropolitan areas who are wealthy enough to live outside thecity and/or own their own cars "—an attractive target audi-ence for many advertisers.

Specific trends regarding program formats, news services,and equipment are discussed. As with most of themagazine's special reports, the activities and situations ofspecific stations are noted to illustrate the trends and excep-tions to them. Two related articles that follow the report aretitled "Onward Evolution in National News Services" and'The All News Way of Radio Journalism."

5. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

An Exploratory Note on the Shopping Behavior of the LowIncome Senior Citizen. Joseph Barry Mason and BrooksE. Smith, The Jotirnal of Consumer Affairs, Winter 1974.pp. 204-210. [W.F.S]

The exploratory research findings reported in this articleprovide meaningful insights into the shopping behavior oflow-income senior citizens. The sample was small (75 re-spondents), and the respondents were all residents of a pub-lic housing complex built especially for the elderly. Thecomplex was less than one mile from the central businessdistrict of a metropolitan area of 100,000 people. Con-sequently, the authors urge caution in interpreting thefindings.

Based on this research, the senior citizen: (1) relies only toa limited extent on in-home shopping services, (2) uses per-sonal observation in terms of physical search and the news-paper as primary sources of product information, (3) shopsmainly in the morning hours. (4) purchases food mainlyfrom a chain supermarket, (5) purchases clothing andhousehold furnishings mainly in the central business dis-trict, (6) is highly mobile and well informed, and (7) consid-ers shopping to be a major part of his or her life style.

The authors point to three findings that appear to be afunction of age rather than other variables. These are thesenior citizen's tendency to: (1) shop in the morning, (2)favor the central business district as a place to shop forconsumer desirables, and (3) engage in a process of physicalsearch to a greater extent than do other groups of shoppers.

The Single Pay More. C. K. Walker, The Journal ofConstimerAffairs. Winter 1974, pp. 211-216. [W.F.S.]

Thirty-nine million unmarried adults, nearly 30% of thepopulation over eighteen years of age, comprise a sig-nificantly large, but unorganized, minority group in theUnited States.

Individuals in this group pay higher per capita prices forfood, housing, and transportation. They also pay higher taxrates than married couples. Specific examples of abuse arecited along with explanations for the different price struc-tures. Where feasible, alternative economic treatments aresuggested.

The author concludes that economic factors tend to ac-count for the higher per capita costs for food and housing.In the case of transportation, there is no economic justifica-tion. Finally, the author suggests that discriminatorypolicies of the federal government are the cause of differ-

ences in the taxation of singles and marrieds. In short, thesingle do pay more.

Consumers' Knowledge. Opinions, and Attitudes towardSafety in Selected Food Items. Summary Report.Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Ag-riculture, November 1974, 5 pp. [G.B.P.]

This preliminary report summarizes some of the majorfindings from a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey ofconsumers' knowledge, opinions, and attitudes towardsafety in selected food items. Since this report was releasedbefore final review and analysis, data are subject to possiblerevision and further interpretation. A detailed final report,which will include an analysis of data by factors such asgeographic region, age, education, and behavior/awarenesslevel of the homemaker, is being prepared for publication.

Bonus Food Stamps and Cash Income Supplements—TheirEffectiveness in Expanding Demand for Food. RobertB. Reese, J. Gerald Feaster, and Garey B. Perkins, Mar-ket Research Report No. 1034. Economic Research Ser-vice. U.S. Department of Agriculture, October 1974, 32pp. [G.B.P]

The Food Stamp Program expanded rapidly followingliberalization during 1970 of program benefits and eli-gibility criteria. In 1969, 3.3 million persons received $264million in bonus food stamps. By mid-1973, over 12.0 mil-lion persons were receiving bonus stamps valued at about $2billion annually. In 1969, the average dollar's worth ofbonus stamps appeared to generate from 50c to 65c in addi-tional food expenditures, with the balance having an in-come effect. Under the liberalized program, average effec-tiveness is approximately the same. Bonus stamps are stillabout twice as effective as cash income supplements in ex-panding demand for food. Demand expansion generatedthrough bonus stamps in early 1973 accounted for nearly1% of total U.S. food expenditures ($125 billion in 1972).Substantial portions of bonus stamp dollars have beenspent for meats, other protein foods, fruits, vegetables, andbakery products.

Subjective Evaluations for Product Design Decisions. Vit-hala R. Rao and Geoffrey N. Soutar, Decision Sciences,January 1975, pp. 120-134. [E.M.M.]

This article presents a simple methodology for the earlyincorporation of consumers' subjective evaluations into theconcept screening stage of a new product introduction pro-cess. The methodology involves eliciting ranked preferencejudgments of a set of alternative product concepts, eachdescribed as a profile of attributes and derived from aninterval-scaled utility score using Thurstone's comparativejudgment model. The derived utility scores are then brokendown into simple effects assignable to each of the attri-butes, thus yielding functional representations of consumerpreferences. Mathematical models are developed to use thefunctions to determine the best concept. Empirical illustra-tions are provided for application of the methodology.

Some Empirical Contributions to Buyer Behavior Theory.Donald R. Lehmann, Terrence V. O'Brien, John U. Far-ley, and John A. Howard, yowma/ of Consumer Research,December 1974. pp. 43-55. [C.W.L.]

This study examined linkages in one specification of theHoward-Sheth model of buyer behavior. The research usedboth cross-sectional analysis and cross-lagged correlationsto evaluate the model.

The investigation was a longitudinal study of the intro-

Marketing Abstracts

duction of a new frequently purchased product. Data werecollected by personal interviews from a panel of 200 indi-viduals in two cities in Argentina.

Although a number of problems were encountered inmaking the variables operational and measuring them, theauthors concluded that it is possible and useful to developand work with a comprehensive framework describing themanner in which individuals make choice decisions. Futureefforts to examine Howard-Sheth-type models will proba-bly take two basic forms: first, more skeletal versions of thelarger models will be employed; and second, considerableeffort will be devoted to examining the ways in which vari-ables relate to each other.

Fear Appeals: Revisited and Revised. Brian Sternthal andC. Samuel Craig, Journal of Consumer Research. De-cember 1974, pp. 22-34. [C.W.L.]

The purposes of the article were to propose guidelines fordeciding on the content of persuasive fear appeals and tosuggest strategies for the effective presentation of fear-arousing messages. Based on an extensive review of the lit-erature, the authors concluded that:

1. Increasing the threat of physical consequences hasgenerally been found to increase persuasion (thoughsome studies repnart an inverse relationship betweenthese variables).

2. Increasing the threat of physical consequences in-creases persuasion only when source credibility ishigh.

3. The one study that addressed the threat of social dis-approval indicates that the threat of social disapprovalis more persuasive than the promise of social approval.

4. Placing a straightforward persuasive message deliv-ered by a moderate- or low-credibility source in afear-arousing context may moderate the persuasive-ness of that appeal.

7. GOVERNMENTAL ANDREGULATORY ASPECTS

Joint Energy Research Ventures Sought without AntitrustRisk. Commerce Today. January 6, 1975, pp. 9-11.[J.R.T.]

This article reports on a conference of some 300 industryand government officials that was designed to explore andidentify acceptable approaches to overcome government,legal, and policy barriers to cooperative energy researchand development by both government-industry groups andconceivable temporary alliances of multiple private firms.

Industrial spokesmen cited cases where such deterrentshad hindered past efforts; Justice Department spokesmenindicated that such mutually cooperative efforts might bestructured to avoid antitrust violations; and the CommerceDepartment voiced a willingness to help develop such al-liances in a continuing search for viable solutions to theenergy problem.

Reasonable Consumers or Ignorant Consumers? How theFTC Decides. Ivan L. Preston, The Jotimal of ConstmierAffairs. Winter 1974, pp. 131-143. [W.F.S.]

This very absorbing article traces the history of the Fed-eral Trade Commission's approach to consumer protection.Three categories of standards are discussed: (1) the reason-able man standard. (2) the ignorant man standard, and (3)the modified ignorant man standard.

Under the reasonable man standard, the FTC is obligatedto protect only reasonable, sensible, intelligent consumerswho conduct themselves carefully in the marketplace. Thisstandard would result in the fewest rulings against sellers'claims.

Under the ignorant man standard, the FTC is obligated toprotect all consumers without regard for the reasonablenessor foolishness of their behavior. This standard would resultin the most rulings against sellers' claims.

The author demonstrates that the FTC has used bothstandards in the past. He cites various court cases to docu-ment that concltision. He also concludes that the standardnow applied by the FTC is the modified ignorant man stan-dard. This protects only those cases of foolishness that arecommitted by significant numbers of p)eople. The authorpoints out that the class of persons to whom this standardapplies is adults. Advertisements aimed at special audiencessuch as the ghetto dweller, the elderly, and the handicapp>edmay be subjected to a more rigorous test.

Transportation and the Consumer. Colin Barrett, Trans-portation and Distribution Management. November/December 1974, pp. 42-44. [W.F.S.]

The author deals with a very timely topic—the extent towhich consumer interest is represented in proceedings be-fore the agencies that regulate transportation. Consumergroups contend that regulation does not serve its statutorymission of protecting the public interest; rather, they argue,it works contrary to the public interest. In the typical case,regulators view their responsibilities as case oriented. Theconsumer often is not represented in regulatory proceed-ings, and the case-by-case approach results in fragmenta-tion that appears to lack an overall policy guideline.

Several steps are suggested by which the regulatory agen-cies could refine the regulatory' process for the benefit ofall concerned—shippers, carriers, and consumers. Basicpolicies by which the public interest may be measured areneeded. These policies should be actively implemented bythe agencies. The agencies should not wait for them to bedefined by the case-by-case method, in which the partici-pants to a particular dispute are the center of concern. Theauthor concludes that growing interdependence in oursocioeconomic system means that transportation and itsregulatory' agencies have a new and broader constituencyand that the "public interest" must be redefined.

Questions? Problems? Here's Help. Consumer News. De-cember 15, 1974, p. 2. [W.F.S.]

This issue of Consumer News contains a valuable listing of20 federal agencies that deal with consumer problems. Thename of the person to whom correspondence should be di-rected is given, along with the appropriate address andtelephone number.

Also included are the telephone numbers of the federalinformation centers to whom questions about any programor agency of the federal government should be directed.

8. HISTORY AND TRENDS

7th Annual Restaurant Growth Index—1974. Edward J.Spar, Restaurant Bttsiness (formerly Fast Food), Sep-tember 1974. pp. 95-105. [B.J.W.]

This report provides eight statistical items on restaurantsin 300 metropolitan areas. The statistics suggest how rela-tively young a market is, its general spending habits with