The Big, Economy-Size Package

Someone was in the kitchen with Dinah--and Mary and Polly and all other housewives last week. It was President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and like the song says, he was strummin' on the ol' banjo. The lyrics had a certain down-to-earth reality, but the tune--well, it was the kind usually played on that big organ at convention time. Phrased as a message to Congress, Kennedy catalogued all the complaints about modern life he could think of and then promised to fix them all up in a brave new world of his own.

"Many of the new products used every day in the home are highly complex," observed the President of the U.S. "The housewife is called upon to be an amateur electrician, mechanic, chemist, toxicologist, dietician and mathematician--but she is rarely furnished the information she needs to perform these tasks proficiently."

Cosmetics & Interest. So saying, the President took a crack at Madison Avenue, Washington's favorite whipping boy. The consumer's choice of products, said he, is influenced by "mass advertising utilizing highly developed arts of persuasion. The consumer typically cannot know whether drug preparations meet maximum standards of safety, quality and efficiency. He usually does not know how much he pays for consumer credit . . . whether the performance of a product will in fact meet his needs; or whether the 'large economy size' is really a bargain."

If granted, the new measures Kennedy asked for would create a sort of federal Better Business Bureau to protect even those consumers who long ago gave up trying to beware what they buy. Items:

o Drug and cosmetic manufacturers should be required to prove that their new products are safe and effective. Drug houses should sell their products by "simple, common names," disclose more information about them to physicians.

o Federal meat inspection should be broadened to cover intrastate products.

o Congress should require lenders and vendors to tell credit customers exactly how much they are being charged for interest. One study showed that buyers of used cars paid interest charges averaging 25% and more; "yet very few were aware of how much they were actually paying for credit."

o The Federal Communications Commission should be authorized to prescribe that new television sets be equipped to receive both UHF (ultra-high-frequency) and VHF (very-high-frequency) signals--an idea obviously inspired by FCC Chairman Newton Minow. Most sets receive only the twelve-channel VHF stations. UHF can deliver as many as 70 channels, and Minow's argument is that more channels will encourage development of more educational and commercial programming.

o Companies planning mergers should be required to give reasonable advance public notice to protect stockholders and others who might feel adversely affected by the action.

All of Us. Kennedy added that he would recommend plans to protect consumers from packaging that is fraudulent and misleading. Frequently, he said, a buyer cannot figure the cost per unit of different brands packed in odd sizes, "or of the same brand in large, giant, king-size or jumbo packages. And he may not realize that changes in the customary size or shape of the package may account for apparent bargains, or that 'cents-off' promotions are often not real savings."

"Consumers," said Kennedy with sincere obviousness, "include us all." Their voices are not always as "loudly heard in Washington as the voices of smaller and better-organized groups . . . We share an obligation to protect the common interest in every decision we make."

With that, he put his economy-size package at the door of Congress. It contained a siren song the words of which would probably be forgotten, but the melody would linger on.

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