Which term refers to differential treatment of consumers based on race/ethnicity, resulting in denial of or degradation in products/services?

• A. Descriptive stereotyping
• B. Consumer racial profiling
• C. Employment discrimination
• D. Disparate impact

Answer: (B)

When we talk about bias in how customers are treated in the marketplace, the idea is that people are acted upon differently because of their race or ethnicity, resulting in being denied goods or services or receiving degraded treatment. The best term for that direct, race-based treatment is consumer racial profiling. Descriptive stereotyping is about holding beliefs or assumptions about a group, not necessarily about how a specific business acts toward individual customers. Employment discrimination focuses on unfair treatment in jobs rather than customer interactions. Disparate impact describes neutral policies that end up harming a protected group, not intentional bias in who gets service. So the scenario matches consumer racial profiling, which captures the intentional, race-based differential treatment in product or service access.