That seems like a sound strategy, because consumers might balk if asked to buy a product named Pennzoil State.

The owners claim they can't afford more pay without raising prices to the point where consumers will balk, and they absolutely refuse to recognize any union.

And consumers may balk at bringing yet another gadget into their homes.

The 3G technology has been slow to take off outside Japan, in part because many consumers balked at the cost of acquiring features they considered excessive.

And, manufacturers and industry analysts say, most seemed to have run into the same resistance as Whirlpool's dryer: consumers balk at devices that talk.

Random House is worried consumers will balk at high book prices and turn to piracy instead.

Some of the questions concern information that consumers might balk at providing otherwise.

But analysts expect consumers to balk at the lowest-priced, thinnest versions.

But recent attempts to move genetic engineering to other crops has met resistance, or at least fear by food companies and farmers that consumers will balk.

But consumers balked at using a special device only to interact with publications.