Stress Linked to More Eating and Smoking
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Americans increasingly are turning to comfort food and tobacco to help them deal with stress, University of Michigan researchers say.
The university’s American Customer Satisfaction Index for the third quarter of 2004 was 74.3, down slightly from 74.4 in the second quarter. But customer satisfaction ratings for individual companies like candy makers Hershey and Mars and the tobacco industry are up.
"The public’s concern about safety, the war in Iraq, rising health care costs and oil prices, all fueled by the presidential election campaign, may have contributed," wrote Claes Fornell, director of the consumer index.
Overall, American consumers expressed less satisfaction with a wide range of products, including pet food, clothes, cleaning products and athletic shoes compared to a year ago. But Hershey Foods Inc. and Mars Inc. products showed the greatest improvement of all products over the past year, and satisfaction with tobacco products is at its highest level in four years.
The index is produced by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in partnership with the American Society for Quality and CFI Group.
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