THE USE OF A HOUSEHOLD INFORMATION HOTLINE BY INFORMATION SEEKERS AND AVERAGE CONSUMERS AND THEIR PREFERENCES FOR USING SELECTED CONSUMER INFORMATION SOURCES.

摘要

The researcher investigated the effectiveness of public service advertisements (PSA) in generating the use of a Household Information Hotline by Information Seekers (IS) and Average Consumers (AC). Consumer preferences for using selected consumer information sources were also examined.;The PSA generated 149 calls from consumers. IS and AC used the Hotline in about equal numbers. Callers to the Hotline were most likely to be female; married; 25-54 years old; employed in professional, technical, managerial, clerical, or sales positions; high school graduates; and to have total family incomes either under ;The greatest number of calls to the Hotline was related to "Shelter." The majority of questions within this category were in "Household Equipment--selection, care, and use" or in "Furniture--selection, arrangement, and care." There were also numerous inquiries relating to "General Management." This was also the category of most of the inquiries by male respondents. There were no differences in the categories of household inquiry by IS and AC.;The majority of callers to the Hotline had contacted at least one other consumer program within the past year. The Department of Consumer Affairs was the most frequent choice, followed by television or radio consumer reporters, and the Better Business Bureau. College graduates, those with professional, managerial, or technical occupations, and those with higher incomes tended to use more information sources. Less than one-fifth of the respondents were subscribers to Consumer Reports magazine.;A Household Information Hotline was established whose personnel answered consumer inquiries concerning food, shelter, clothing, the family, and money management. The Hotline was advertised for two months using 169 PSA on three New York City radio stations.;Letters of complaint to retailers or product manufacturers tended to be written by middle-aged, married subjects, who had attended college. Subjects who had been divorced were also likely to have written letters.;Most consumers in the sample preferred getting their consumer information from friends or relatives, books or magazines, or by using the telephone. Reading advertisements and asking salespeople were the least preferred sources. IS showed a preference for books and magazines as the most preferred source of information; while AC most preferred using the telephone. There were no differences between the least preferred consumer sources of IS and AC.;There were indications in the study that income alone could be used to classify consumers as IS or AC.;It would seem from the analyses of data in this study that the following areas need to be examined further: (1) the ability of PSA on other types of media (either alone or in conjunction with radio PSA) to generate calls to a consumer hotline; (2) the role of inter-personal communication in the transmission of information concerning the availability of consumer programs; (3) the timing of PSA, the message content, and the relationship between the Community Service departments of radio stations and programs using (or desirous of using) PSA; (4) the proper strategies for using radio PSA to reach consumers in other demographic categories; (5) the consumer problems of divorced individuals; (6) the differences in complexity of the household questions asked by IS and by AC; (7) the accuracy of consumer information transmitted by friends and relatives; (8) the types and extent of use of books and magazines by IS to determine which are most effective in transmitting household or other consumer information; (9) whether negative attitudes toward business related consumer information sources revealed in this study are widespread; and (10) to confirm whether income alone could be used to classify consumers as IS or AC.