Chapter-19: Consumerism
The Roots of
Consumerism: The word consumerism has many connotations, depending on who
is using the term. Business, government, consumer groups, and academic
researchers have each developed. Consumerism is a social movement of citizens
and government to enhance the rights and powers of buyers in relation to
sellers.
There are
numerous underlying roots of consumerism in the USA: (i) Disillusionment with
the system. (ii) The performance gap. (iii) The consumer information gap. (iv)
Antagonism toward advertising. (v) Impersonal and unresponsive marketing
institutions. (vi) Intrusions of privacy. (vii) Declining living standards.
(viii) Special problems of disadvantaged. (ix) Different views of the
marketplace.
Consumer’s
bills of rights: In 1962, President John F. Kennedy presented a message
to Congress with the following fundamental rights of the consumer. (i) The
right to safety: to be protected against the marketing of goods which
are hazardous to health. (ii) The
right to be informed: to be protected against fraudulent, deceitful, or
grossly misleading information, advertising, labeling, or other practices, and
to be given the facts needed to make an informed choice. (iii) The right
to choose: to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of
products and services at competitive prices; and in those industries in which
competition is not workable and government regulation is substituted, an
assurance of satisfactory quality and service at fair prices. (iv) The
right to be heard: to be assured that consumer interest will receive
full and sympathetic consideration in the formulation of government policy, and
fair and expeditious treatment in its administrative tribunals.
Consumer
Information: Consumer rights which regard to information related to the
marketer’s provision of adequate information which neither deceives nor
misleads. (i) Deception of consumers: If an advertisement (or
advertising campaign) leaves the consumer with an impression(s) and/or
belief(s) different from what would normally be expected if the consumer had
reasonable knowledge, and that impression(s) and/or belief(s) is factually
untrue or potentially misleading, then deception is said to exists. In this
case the government has also adopted the position of requiring corrective
advertising, in which past advertising transgression are corrected. Affirmative
disclosure is designed to eliminate the potential for deception in
promotional material by providing consumer information on negative attributes
of some products and services. Affirmative disclosure specifically requires a
company to disclose in its advertising labeling the deficiencies or limitations
of its product or service. (ii) Availability of sufficient information: It is
felt by many in legislative, regulative, and judicial circle that consumers
does not have adequate information on which to base decisions.
Environmental
Concerns: A consumer right not enumerated by Kennedy but which should be
added is the right to a clean environment: to be assured that the environment
the consumer lives in is free from pollution. Widespread and large-scale
pollution seems to be a by-product of an economically developed society, but it
is also an area of great concern for many consumers. The green movement is
growing significantly and marketers are seeking to cash in on an environmental
awakening. The world forests are being destroyed at the rate of one football
field-sized area each seconds. Plant and animals species are abolishing. People
are suffering damaged to their health as a result of poor air quality, ozone
depletion, or exposure to hazards materials.
Consumer
Privacy: A sixth consumer right related to privacy, information, data
banks, and similar emerging issues. Consumer information collected, merged, and
exchanged through computer and communication technologies has become the main
resource that business and government use to facilitate the millions of daily
transactions engaged in by consumers. (i) Only relevant and socially-approved
personal information should be collected by private or public organizations to
determine people’s access to rights, benefits, and opportunities. (ii)
Individual should be informed what information about them is to be collected
and how it will be used. (iii) Individuals should have practical procedures for
inspecting their records and for raising issues as to the accuracy,
completeness, and propriety of information used to make evaluative decisions
about them. (iv) Sensitive personal information should be circulated within the
collecting organization only to those with a need to see it for legitimate
purpose.
Consumers’
Responsibilities: It has been suggested that consumer rights can only be
achieved when accompanied by consumer responsibilities. Thus consumers have the
obligation to choose wisely, keep informed, sound off, put safety first, and
help protect their environment. Consumers must establish an appropriate ethical
framework to handle decisions that confront them. It may be surprising to you,
but consumers, just as businesspeople face moral dilemmas quite often in the
marketplace.
Marketer
Responsibilities: Marketers face twofold challenge in dealing with the
issue. First, they must increase their level of knowledge of the nature of the
issues. Many marketers are not aware of the issues and just how unfavorable
situations are perceived to be by some consumers. Second, they must design
organizational elements to respond to consumers effectively. The company should
realize that the consumer in not a threat but an opportunity to them. In this
regard the marketers need to Understanding what consumers experience,
establishing a consumer advisory board, listening to consumers and responding
effectively, establishing a corporate consumer affairs unit, and educating
consumers.