ABSTRACT
Grunig and Hunt see President Kennedy’s message to Congress in the early 1960s as the main impetus for the rise in consumer relations programmes: Kennedy ‘declared four basic consumer rights: the right to safety; the right to be heard; the right to choose; the right to be informed’ (1984: 316). Consumer specialists were appointed to the office of Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs to respond to the needs of consumers. Companies gave added value to their products by producing general educational literature such as an insurance company which produced booklets on managing stress and other health topics.
