Stakeholders and Consumers

Consumers are a vital aspect in any business since they have the ability to affect the outcome. This paper provides a discussion on consumer misinformation.

Identify a recent example of a company accused of deceptive or fraudulent advertising.

Volkswagen was recently accused of misleading advertising for saying that their automobiles were environmentally beneficial due to reduced emissions. In response, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched a lawsuit. The automobile manufacturer was accused of falsely declaring that their diesel clean cars had passed the emissions test, which they had cheated on for seven years (Heilpern n.p).The accusations were justified since the company promotional materials had severally claimed that their clean diesel vehicles had low emissions, fewer emission than gasoline cars and that the company had reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by ninety percent. The company had an illegal software installed in their cars that enabled them to pass emission tests, which they would have failed if they did not have the software (Federal Trade Commission n.p).

How did the organization justify the claims made in its ad?

They claimed that their clean diesel cars were environmental friendly because of low emissions. They also claimed that they met the required federal emission standards and therefore their cars maintained a high resale value. The clean diesel campaign also claimed that the cars have significantly reduced nitrogen oxides emissions by ninety percent and that they have fewer emissions than gasoline cars. The company admitted that some of their vehicles had soft wares installed in them that enabled them to cheat on emission tests (Geuss n.p).

Do you agree or disagree with the claims of the accusers or the organization?

I do agree with the claims of the accusers since it was later found that Volkswagen had found a way of cheating on gas emission, which they later confirmed by revealing that some of their cars had soft wares installed in them that could manipulate the level of gas emission showing them to be low on emissions. The company also agreed to a settlement of $4.3 billion dollars to US regulators over the emissions scandal.

Works Cited

Commission, Federal Trade. FTC Charges Volkswagen Deceived Consumers With Its “Clean Diesel” Campaign. 29 March 2016. 14 October 2017 .

Guess, Megan. FTC sues Volkswagen, says “Clean Diesel” Advertising was deceptive [Updated]. 29 March 2016. 14 October 2017 .

Heilpern, Will. 18 False Advertising Scandals that Cost Some Brands Millions. 31 March 2016. 14 October 2017 .