L9+The+'new'+consumer


 * The final 'lecture'**

//**DISCLAIMER**: This is not a typical lecture. It is merely an invitation to think back on several topics discusses throughout the semester in light of the broad and specific trends occurring in today's consumer society. Your views and ideas are invited more than ever before! (post them on the 'Discussion' page)//


 * What happens to consumption and consumers in a world dominated by the market?** Throughout the course we have seen how individuals increasingly turn to consumption when faced with problems. Even the ‘higher order’ problems, such as searching for meaning in life and defining our 'self', that were in the past governed by religion and the local community (the family, clan, etc.) increasingly shift into the domain of markets and consumption.

These changes point to **important cultural shifts**. We started the course by pointing out that the traditional definition of ‘consumer’ is outdated (think ‘prosumer’). Today’s consumer is more complex and extensive than yesterday's. The changes suggested above have made it more difficult to think of consumers (and consumption) outside the other (in the past separate) spheres of social existence.

We used to distinguish very clearly between citizen and consumer. Citizens deal with politics and social problems, consumers with products and consumption issues. Not any more! When faced with political and social problems individuals now often respond with consumption instead of political action (voting, contacting politicians). If they are angry at certain countries they stop consuming their products (boycotting). If they like the political/social solutions offered by a company/brand they consume it to show support (BUYcotting). It’s called ‘voting with your wallet’ and it’s becoming more popular than the actual voting. Think Coca Cola and Nike boycotts ([]); think US boycotts of French products when France refused to join the ‘anti-terrorist coalition’([]); think Fair trade products ([]); think Ben & Jerry’s ([|http://www.benjerry.com/activism/)].

We used to separate religion from the marketplace, the intimate and personal from the commercial. Not any more! We saw wedding services being held in a mall; we saw industrial chaplains; we see people (including ourselves) sharing intimate information on commercial platforms (think Facebook, Youtube, or any type of reality show you can imagine); we see more and more individuals transforming themselves into products (think politicians, celebrities, everybody!) by opening/adapting their lives to the consuming public, by treating their bodies as packaging that can encourage consumption (think plastic surgery, steroids, the beauty industry,…). We see our bodies and minds as instruments that can be ‘upgraded’, ‘fixed’, etc. We consume in ways that were not imaginable a few decades ago.

As a result, our understanding of consumers and consumption can more readily than ever be used in areas that used to have nothing or little to do with consumption and marketing. Politicians, the church, doctors, educators, there are all increasingly faced by consumers and consumer mindsets (instead of citizens, patients or students). What happens when everything becomes a consumption experience? You might say that nothing is sacred anymore. You could also say that consumption becomes sacred. I prefer the second one. Instead of simply complaining that the market and consumption have destroyed religion, politics, etc. we can try to understand the new forms of consumo-religion and political consumption that have recently emerged. Instead of complaining about the ‘death’ of the natural, pure human being, we can consider these new consumer cyborgs more closely (e.g., drug/machine enhanced humans, plastic beauties, etc.). Think of the exciting new ideas we could learn.

GENERAL TRENDS (they are interrelated!)

- the rise of the market & consumption as the central socio-cultural force - the blurring of divisions between other social spheres and consumption - commoditization of previously ‘sacred’ aspects of life - consumption replacing religion and ancestry as the prime sources of self definition - emerging political/social consumption (voting with wallets) - moving to postmodernity (see p. 621-624 in SBAH)

MORE SPECIFIC TRENDS - prosumption: consumers become producers through the opportunities offered by new technologies (internet: user generated content) - word of mouse/mouth on the rise (remember McCann’s report), marketing communication facing serious changes - **see [] for more!**