A. Aldridge, ENGAGING WITH PROMOTIONAL CULTURE - ORGANIZED CONSUMERISM AND THE PERSONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY, Sociology, 31(3), 1997, pp. 389-408
The UK's expanding personal financial services sector has been the sit
e of allegations of widespread professional malpractice. In response,
the Consumers' Association has begun to scrutinise financial products
and services more closely. The personal financial sector is a promotio
nal culture, in which information and persuasion are inextricably link
ed. It appears, therefore, to be a prime target for the Consumers' Ass
ociation, whose mission is to supply consumers with objective informat
ion uncontaminated by commercial self-interest. The argument in this a
rticle is that key features of the Consumers' Association - its gesell
schaftlich character, mass-market orientation, reverence for the ideal
of professionalism, faith in regulation, and Fordist research methodo
logy - limit its capacity both to mount an effective evaluation of per
sonal financial products and services and to create an informed public
.