The Doctrine of Invited Misuse: A Societal Response to Marketing Promotion

Abstract

Although attention to product liability has been traditionally focused on the producer, the judicial gaze is being turned with greater frequency toward marketing's participation in consumer harm. Unlike recent efforts (Morgan 1982), this article takes marketing liability beyond the limits of simply misrepresentation to a "new" problem of encouraged consumer misuse of products. In particular, the doctrine of invited misuse represents a hallmark transition to the sharing of blame by those who promote products in a manner that invites product misuse.

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