MEASURING CONSUMER VULNERABILITY TO SOCIAL MEDIA MISMARKETING PRACTICES

This study investigates the consumer vulnerability to the social media mismarketing trend, namely, influencer marketing campaigns, false or exaggerated insinuations, and personalized advertising. Employing quantitative research design, a structured Google form questionnaire was used to obtain primary data containing both open-ended and closed-ended questions among social media users in the Calicut district, Kerala. Secondary data was sourced from published research articles and official documents. Patterns of exposure, awareness and response behavior were analyzed through descriptive and percentage analysis. With the use of ‘Mismarketing Vulnerability Index(MVI), the results demonstrate that even though the situation with exaggerated or false claims is widely known to consumers, the majority of them do not respond by taking corrective action to realize their limitations in the current reporting system. The most vulnerable group of people turned out to be teenagers and young adults, highly influenced by trends and paid advertising. The paper highlights the importance of the increased regulation, the specific digital literacy campaigns, and the ready grievance redressal procedures that would drive the digital marketing sphere toward openness, liability, and confidence.