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Black Friday, retailers and consumers

Hype and persuasion

Letters to the Editor. Illustration: Paul Scott
The Irish Times - Letters to the Editor.

Sir, –My ingrained scepticism with regard to the veracity of retail sales, be they January, Black Friday or Cyber Monday, etc, has been somewhat, but encouragingly, diminished on noting that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has commenced legal proceedings against a number of retailers for breaking sales pricing laws (Conor Pope, “Retailers taken to court over ‘fake discounts’”, News, November 29th).

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is one of a number of organisations such as the Money Advice and Budgeting Service and the Citizens Information Board, etc, that we hear too little about and are demanding of a much greater profile in order to properly fulfil their various advocacy roles in Irish society.

In general, the average citizen is seriously disadvantaged in terms of seeing through the fog of allure, hype and persuasion in modern publicity and promotion.

In this context alone, news of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s legal proceedings is most welcome and deserving of being kept in the headlines. – Yours, etc,

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MICHAEL GANNON,

Kilkenny.