The recalling of products have abounded this year, everything from children’s Tylenol, eggs and the infamous Toyota. Through all of this have you grown tired of checking your cabinets, refrigerator and garages to make sure your products are not on the list? It is a major concern that consumers are being overloaded by voluntary recalls and are literally “tuning” them out.
Whether this spike in recalls is because of more harmful products and careless production is to be debated. Many companies are more quickly implementing voluntary recalls in order to protect themselves legally down the road. And as social media continues to thrive, the transparency in companies rises as well. However, as Chris Gidez U.S. director of risk management says “Recall fatigue is something the FDA and other regulators may be concerned about, whether consumers are getting desensitized to them and not reacting” (http://adage.com/article?article_id=145621).
In an Ad Age poll, 76% of respondents said they still care about the recall messages. However, 24% said they do not. Have you changed your lifestyle because of the recalls? I can tell you I have not. I do not drive a Toyota, but my best friend does, and she did not stop driving it because of thousands of cars affected. I did have eggs, I checked my packaging to make sure they were not a part of the recall, but I am not going to start buying organic. I know that I cannot live in a bubble and that I must keep buying products. So every night I will watch the news and do my best to keep my family safe, but I will not be changing the way I purchase products.
