ALL-CAPS
Publication Date
12-2020
Abstract
A hallmark of consumer contracts is their use of long blocks of capitalized text. These “all-caps” clauses are meant to alert consumers to nonstandard, risky, or important aspects of the transaction that would otherwise be hidden in the fine print. Based on a belief in the power of all-caps, courts will often deny enforcement of many key terms—such as warranty disclaimers, liability releases, arbitration clauses, and automatic billing—unless they are presented in all-caps. This article is the first to empirically examine the effectiveness of all-caps. Using an experimental methodology, the article finds that all-caps fail to appreciably improve consent. Moreover, some evidence suggests that all-caps are harmful to older consumers. We collect evidence from standard form agreements used by the largest companies in the United States and find that, despite its limitations, three-quarters of consumer contracts contain at least one all-caps paragraph. Based on these findings and other evidence reported here, this article lays out the dangers and risks of continued reliance on all-caps and calls for abandoning all-caps.
Recommended Citation
Yonathan A. Arbel & Andrew Toler, ALL-CAPS, 17 J. EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUD. 862 (December 2020).