Introduction: Many people think that the low price is the key factor in the sales. However
the fact is that the risks of products play an important role in our clients’ minds. So what is
‘risk’? A risk is the cost when a client makes a mistake, which includes the cost not only in
money, but also in the society, psychologic and emotion. So in order to help our clients
understand the risk better, we have to give our product warnings. Here, we will mainly
focus on the two issues: A. Tests used regarding warnings B. Products sold to the
“sophisticated industrial user” (producer goods).
A. Tests used regarding warnings
a. warnings which ‘minimize’ the danger
Nowadays we find that more and more so-called product warnings which ‘minimize’ the
danger of the product. This kind of warning try to hide the potential danger of the product
from the clients and give the client an illusion that their products are almost completely
safe. This is a very irresponsible deed which deceives the client to buy their products.
What’s more, once the health or the wealth of the client is harmed because of the product.
This kind of fraudulent deed is also illegal and should be punished harshly. In the other
hand, as a wise client, we should improve our ability of judging the authenticity of the
warnings.
b. duty to warn about obvious, generally known dangers, or where the plaintiff actually
knows of the danger
As we all know, there are two kinds of dangers of the products, one is potential and
another is obvious. In other words, dangers which is obvious, generally known or which
the plaintiff actually knows. To be frank, it is understandable that sometimes as a seller
himself will not be aware of the potential danger. But it is our duty to warn the client about
the obvious dangers. To say the least, some dangers are so obvious that the plaintiff has
already known，so given that you want to hide the danger, it is useless. And when you
warn the client about the danger sincerely, the client will regard you as a very reliable
seller. Chances are that he will overlook the unimportant danger and buy your products.
c. to whom must warnings be given?
‘To whom must warnings be given?’ of course the answer is client. But what kind of
clients? As we all known, there are two kinds of clients, present client and potential client.
