Are Consumers Being Over-Warned About Recalls?

A story out of the Washington Post from Friday has really caught my eye. The story focuses on a phenomenon called over-warning and how some officials believe that the massive amount of recalls and warnings that consumers are bombarded with on daily basis may actually be hurting public safety.

I have to admit keeping up with the latest recalls can be overwhelming at times, but I also have to say that recalling dangerous and defective products is an absolute necessity and somehow we have got to get the word out to consumers. The real trick is making sure that the public is not inundated with so much recall information that they are no longer affected by the more serious recalls that may pose significant danger to them and their families.

According to The Post a recent study found that 12 percent of Americans who knew they had recalled food at home chose to eat the items anyway. After Hasbro recalled the Easy Bake Oven in 2007 because almost two dozen children had gotten their fingers stuck in the door, the company received almost 250 additional reports of injury in the six months following the recall.

These are clear examples that the recall system we currently have in place is simply not working and many believe it’s due to the public being oversaturated with recall news.

According to Inez Tenenbaum, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, “the greatest challenge is getting dangerous products out of homes.” Most retailers now have the ability to quickly pull recalled items from the shelves and block their sale at registers but getting consumers to actually remove recalled products from their homes is far more challenging.

The more expensive a product is, the more likely consumers are to respond to a recall, with car owners returning 73 percent of recalled automobiles. Cheaper items however, do not see the same type of response from consumers.

So what’s the solution? Costco seems to be on the right track.

Costco keeps a record of the items that each of their 56 million card holding members purchases and calls them within 24 hours if the customer has purchased a recalled product. The company sees much higher response rates recalls using this method than recalls announced to the public at large.

The concept is solid but the challenge is expanding on the idea and adopting a similar plan on a broader spectrum.

A new law named for a child, Danny Keysar, who was killed in when a defective portable crib collapsed in 1998 took effect this week. The law aims at increasing the ability of authorities to contact consumers directly by requiring the manufacturers of durable toddler and baby products to include registration cards with the products.

This is a step in the right direction but finding the best way to make consumers aware of potentially dangerous and defective products will likely be something we struggle with for years to come.

What about you? What do you think is the best is way to notify consumers about recalls to maximize awareness and response?