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Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 

Le Mieux Est L'ennemi Du Bien 

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Published 11/1/2008 

Author: Debra Jones Ringold 

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Executive Summary
The title of this essay comes from Voltaire’s Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764). It is commonly translated as “the perfect is the enemy of the good” and epitomizes the controversy associated with promoting smokeless tobacco as a safer alternative to smoking. Not unlike other harm-reduction controversies (e.g., methadone versus abstinence, needle exchange versus abstinence, birth control versus abstinence), this is another instance in which the perfect (i.e., abstaining from tobacco) is the enemy of the good, or at least the better (i.e., consuming smokeless tobacco). This essay argues that in contrast to the putative objectives of the public health community, the current regulatory regimen deters the innovation, sale, and consumption of more healthful tobacco products. It asserts that if the desire for perfect information and perfect solutions can be avoided, if consumers can be trusted to understand risk information and its relevance to them, and if the marketplace is allowed to work, consumers will be better off.

Biography
Debra Jones Ringold is Professor of Marketing and dean of the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, Willamette University. Her teaching awards include the United Methodist Award for Exemplary Teaching and Community Service (2002) and the Hudson Distinguished Teaching Award (1997). She was honored as Willamette University Administrator of the Year in 2005. Her research has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Journal of Advertising, among others. Debra is the 2004 recipient of the Thomas C. Kinnear/JPP&M award for outstanding research. She has served on the editorial board of Journal of Public Policy & Marketing since 1991 and began a three year term as its Associate Editor in 2006. Debra was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association in 2000 and ended her term as Chairperson in July 2007. Her recent clients include the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Anheuser Busch.

Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Volume 27, Number 2, Fall 2008
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