Indeed, the positive aspects of marketing communications have been well documented. In a classic study of advertising restrictions on optometrists, Lee Benham found that prices of eyeglasses were $20 higher (in 1963 dollars) in states banning advertising than in those that did not. In addition, other researchers have found that high levels of advertising were associated with unstable market shares, consistent with the idea that advertising promoted competition rather than monopoly.

These studies inform us that marketing activities have the potential to be socially useful. Thus, banning (or limiting) marketing activities may not necessarily make us all better off.

Kissan Joseph,

Lawrence