TELEMARKETING FRAUD

 

Hello friends, in this article I will explain about consumer awareness. First, what Is the meaning of consumer awareness? Consumer awareness is about making the consumer aware of his/her rights concerning available  products and services being marketed and sold. For easier to explain, I will focus on telemarketing fraud.

Telemarketing fraud is one of many ways that the criminal use for defraud the consumer with telephone. Identified by FTC, telemarketing fraud is one of the most persuasive deceptions. Types of telemarketing fraud are advance fee fraud, pyramid schemes, credit card fraud, overpayment fraud, charity fraud, cramming, summer jobs fraud, office supply scam, and magazine subscriptions scam. The one that the most happened in Indonesia is advance fee fraud. The criminal will typically require upfront payments in exchange for goods and services. This is also a popular technique used in lottery and student scholarships scams.

There are the best three tips how to avoid being a victim of telemarketing fraud. First, request written information about organization and product or investment. If you have written information, you can check it carefully, whether it’s fraud or not. Second, don’t buy anything on terms you don’t fully understand. As example, if you buy an apple and you don’t fully understand about the quality of apple, you will easily being a victim of fraud. The last and the most important is don’t provide any personal financial information. As additional, I suggest if you feel something strange when you talking with someone you don’t  know on telephone, hang up. What to do if you’re a victim of telemarketing fraud? You should report the telemarketing fraud quickly to police station. 

 

Better to prevent than to cure, I will give you some ways to protect yourself from telemarketing fraud. The first way is don’t call me. It means that you should ignore the incoming call that you don’t know. Second, give them nothing. The criminals are hunting for your information, especially financial information. Third, stay alert. Although you already sure that it isn’t a fraud, you should still search informations about the organization. Be part of the solution is the last way, you can help prevent it. If you've received a call, mailing or email you think might be from a scammer, report the incident to the FTC by calling its consumer hot line at 877-FTC-HELP (877-382-4357). (Cr. http://www.aarp.org)

ADVERTISING

Advertising is a way that the company used to promote their product or service. The purpose of advertising is to persuade the customers to buy their products or services, to reassure the customers that their products or services are the best, and enhance the image of the company. Taken from smallbusiness.chron.com, a good advertisement should include some requirements. There are memorable, effective targeting, entertaining, and grabbing attention.

 

For me, the advertisement that fulfill that requirements is Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is carbonated soft drinks. Coca-Cola is produced by The Coca-Cola Company since 1944.  In advertising, The Coca-Cola Company used many ways to advertising Coca-Cola, such as sports sponsorship and and in mass media.  Coca-Cola have coorperated with many sport events, as example are Fifa World Cup, Olympic, and Rugby World Cup. In mass media, Coca-Cola featured in countless films and television programs. Their advertisement also always be on television.

 

 

The most I like between all of the Coca Cola ad (Advertisement) on television is an ad name “Coca Cola Polar Bear”. You can see it on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbbQjwLpRXw. This ad narrates about a batch of bears who coorperate each others to reach the moon, after get the it, they  open their Coca Cola with it. Behind the purpose to present their products to customer, this ad also teach us about teamwork like that bears do. For me, this ad also show that Coca-Cola company have a good teamwork. My assumption show that the ad success to enhance the image of the company. As a joke, maybe Coca Cola Company want to show us that not only human like Coca-Cola, but also a bear.

 

Back to the requirements, I wil explain why Coca-Cola Company  fulfill the requirements. The first is memorable. Honestly, i just once see the Coca Cola Polar Bear ad and I remember it as a good advertisement from Coca-Cola. My experience show that the advertisement that Coca Cola presented is memorable. Then, effective targeting. The target of Coca Cola is people who around 12-30 years old. I think they used suitable advertising, especially with the program of sports sponsorship. For me an entertaining advertisement is an an advertisement that make me smile and there is a meaning on it. As I said before, the Coca Cola Polar Bear is fulfill the third requirement. Last is grabbing attention, the advertisement that Coca-Cola showed is always grabbing attention. For example, in 2009, there is a ad named "Heist". This ad involve many insects, such as butterflies, a team of bees, ladybugs to make a synchronized classical music soundtrack. From this ad, Coca-Cola got its first-ever Emmy Award (http://www.coca-colacompany.com).

 

Believe it or not, advertising heavily involved in the decision to buy products or services. Therefore,

 we should selecting which product is the best for us, not only but its advertising, but also from it's

quality. There is a quote, “Don’t judge the book by it’s cover”. That is also applied when you buy a

products or services. I think this is the end of this article, byebye!