Comments on: Consumerism. What’s Your First Reaction?

By: Poppy

Poppy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:51:14 +0000

Nowadays, the power is transferring from the organization or company to the consumer.

I have to disagree with this, and I think in so doing, I will give answers to the questions that you asked as well.

The big elephant in the room that never gets discussed in conversations about consumerism is that the consumer doesn’t get to select what the choices will be. We only get to choose between choices which have already been provided.

In terms of choosing products to buy, stores to shop at, etc – the company still controls whether we will be able to choose between A, B, or C.

In terms of where to get our information, you may be right, due to the proliferation of the internet and the slowness of companies in catching up to commercialize it. It’s not a static place we’re in, though, and I’m not going to try and guess where it will go next.

One example that I saw of this addressed women and girls’ issues specifically, debunking the claims that females now are “empowered” because we can “choose” to buy lots of “empowering” slogans on our t-shirts. But if you actually look at the clothing lines offered by some companies, the “choices” range from t-shirts reading “Angel” to t-shirts reading “Porn Star” – not a wide variety of options.

Has power shifted? Perhaps. But there’s still this big elephant in the room of who provides the choices, how they’re advertised, etc etc etc.

By: Ethical Shopper

Ethical Shopper — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:20:43 +0000

I agree that the power is moving increasingly to the consumer, although we must never underestimate the power of the big players. We as consumers, are no longer readily absorbing the branding messages delivered by a companies’ marketing team and advertising agency. We are seeking the “truth” about companies and Web 2.0 has provided a great platform to achieve this. Overall, it is a great result as corporations become more accountable for their actions.

By: Carnival of Non-Profit Consultants: Cha-Cha-Chaaange « SocialButterfly.

Carnival of Non-Profit Consultants: Cha-Cha-Chaaange « SocialButterfly. — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:38:48 +0000

[…] ‘bonus host post’ here, as it follows up well with Mr. Viator’s idea. In my post Consumerism. What’s Your First Reaction?, I too coin my own term ‘optimistic consumerism,’ explaining that with changing media […]

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:50:51 +0000

Thanks for the comment at my site. I just joined Twitter. I am @vanessamason.

I love these types of conversations that matter too! It is just a bit more difficult for me to have them here in Spanish! I do agree with you that we are all consumers now. The democratization of consumerism has made us all producers as well. We can blog, create podcasts and vidcasts, and share information through social networking. Even leaving comments on sites allows us to shape the visibility of news.

I think this new consumerism has created a new sort of accountability because you can make the choice about what you consume in terms of information. It’s no longer the decision of “the media.” Great post! Good luck with the thesis and the presentation this summer.