Organisational trust and Public Relations go hand-in-hand, which is why a break in trust can have a detrimental impact on an organisation's image and its publics. This blog looks to explore the importance of ensuring consumers maintain trust in an organisation and it’s services, and the laws and regulations surrounding this.
Charity Electrical Safety First have recently unveiled a campaign to enforce changes to law encouraging online retailers to take more responsibility for the products they sell. In an article released by the BBC today, relating giants Amazon Marketplace, Wish and eBay were scrutinised for allowing listings of products not fit for purpose – the article focused on a fire caused by a replacement laptop battery a woman had purchased from an online marketplace.
So, the question is, are the laws and regulations for retailers strict enough, or is there still so much more to be done? The answer of this question for me is resounding; regulations still have a long way to go for us as consumers to feel safe in all of our purchases, and I’m not overly confident I will ever feel completely safe.
The introduction of the 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) highlighted the existing grey areas in data privacy that could be exploited by companies and providers. The dramatic change in data storing and processing brought on from the introduction of GDPR was most likely a product of the laws and regulations attempting to keep up with the ever-advancing world of technology. So far, in my experiences, GDPR has made us all more mindful of where our information is going and how we handle others in a way we (shockingly) weren’t so aware of before.
The world we live in is evolving quicker than regulatory bodies can keep up with, leaving weak spots and loopholes for those few predatory organisations/individuals to take advantage of. Even though it would be nice to feel completely safe as a consumer with all our purchasing decisions and within all sectors of technology, I frankly see this as impossible and sadly the burden falls upon ourselves to be savvy and target all issues as we come across them.
Ethically, selling a product that is not fit for purpose is a big no – and I’m sure the marketplace giants will take larger steps to prevent such breaches in the future as this goes against their fiduciary duties (although this will sadly be fuelled more by brand image than for consumer safety). I also have no doubt a story of this nature featured in the national news will encourage regulatory changes of at least a basic nature – it’s frankly shocking this has not been regulated already.
Are there any other tales or stories that have shocked you in the past where an organisation/individual has managed to slip through the regulatory net and caused damage to the lives of its publics? Please let me know your thoughts on this topic and if there is anything you’d like to add, please do so below!