Consumerism in Perspective

Abstract

Consumerism's fundamental nature, reflecting as it did a general dissatisfaction among consumers with the existing relationship between consumer and producer in the marketplace in the well‐off industrialised nations, ensured its rapid growth and internationalisation. Notes that after gaining momentum in the USA, consumerism had spread to most of the developed countries, in particular Sweden, Japan, The Netherlands and the UK. Suggests that the international consumerist movement reached its peak in many countries in the late 1960s and 1970s, and this was when the consumerist movements were united by a single overwhelming objective — ensuring the consumer got a fair deal in the marketplace. Contends that consumerists have approached the problem from two different points — the strategies employed fall into these categories: consumer information and education; and the recognition of basic consumer rights in law. Believes that elements of both attempts try to ensure that the consumer is able to protect himself and are found in all the countries with consumerist movements. Concludes that consumerists' aim has been to ensure that within this framework the interests of consumers are protected and that consumers receive a fair deal.

Citation

Mann, J. and Thornton, P. (1978), "Consumerism in Perspective", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 253-263. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004986