Explain the contractual standards for product safety.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The caveat emptor approach understands marketing on a simple model of a contractual exchange between a buyer and seller. This perspective assumes that every purchase involves the informed consent of the buyer and therefore it is assumed to be ethically legitimate. Buyers have the responsibility to look out for their own interests and protect their own safety when buying a product. From this perspective, business has only the responsibility to provide a good or service at an agreed-upon price.
The social contract tradition in ethics holds that all ethical responsibilities can be understood with this contractual model, and that the only duties we have are those that we have freely taken on within a social contract. Individual contracts and promises are the basis of ethical duties. The implication of this within the business sphere is that unless a seller explicitly warrants a product as safe, unless, in other words, the seller promises otherwise, buyers are liable for any harm they suffer.
In the United States, courts moved away from this caveat emptor approach and recognized an implicit promise, or implied warranty, that accompanies any product that is marketed. What the law refers to as the implied warranty of merchantability holds that in selling a product a business implicitly offers assurances that the product is reasonably suitable for its purpose. Even without a verbal or written promise or contract, the law holds that business has a duty to ensure that its products will accomplish their purpose. In effect, the implied warranty standard shifts the burden of proof from consumers to producers by allowing consumers to assume that products were safe for ordinary use.