Consumerism

Consumer

A consumer is a person who consumes or uses any goods or services.

Goods may be consumables or Services.

Consumerism is the theory that a country that consumes goods and services
in large quantities will be better off economically.
Sometimes, consumerism is referred to as a policy that promotes greed.

Consumerism is also credited with a movement towards consumer protection

that promotes improvement in safety standards and truthful packaging and
advertisement. Consumerism also seeks to enforce laws against unfair trade
practices and truthful product guarantees.

History

The consumer society emerged in the late seventeenth century and intensified
throughout the eighteenth century. The change was attributed to a growing
middle-class that embraced new ideas about luxury consumption and the
growing importance of fashion as a motivator for purchasing rather than
necessity.

The industrial revolution dramatically increased the availability of consumer

goods, which led to the advent of the department store, which represented a
paradigm shift in the consumer experience. For the first time, customers could
buy an astonishing variety of goods, all in one place, and shopping became a
popular leisure activity.

Advertising also played a major role in the emergence of a consumerist

society, as goods were marketed through various platforms in nearly all
aspects of life, advocating that the viewer's life was in need of some product.
Over the years, advertising changed with the evolving sophistication of
consumer attitudes and tastes.

This soon took shape

of the idea of Consumerism.
 Sailent Features

Consumerism is a protest of consumers against unfair business practices and

business industries. It aims to eliminate those unfair marketing practices e.g.
misbranding, spurious products, unsafe products, adulteration, fictitious
pricing, planned obsolescence, deceptive packaging, false and misleading
advertisements, defective warranties, hoarding, profiteering, black-marketing,
short weights and measures etc.

Main features of consumerism are in the following ways:-

1) A consumer must be aware of his/her rights and should protect his /her
rights.

2) he/he should seek redressal for his complaints.

3) he/she should raise voice against exploitations.

4) government laws mu itst protected the interest of the consumers.

5) business houses must adopt a code of conduct for regulating the activities.

NEED FOR CONSUMER AWARENESS

In this age of capitalism and globalization, the main objective of each producer
is to maximize his profit. In each and every possible way the producer are
trying to increase the sale of their products. Therefore, in fulfillment of their
aim they forget the interests of consumer s and start exploiting them.

Thus in order to save them from being cheated, it is necessary for a consumer
to be aware. In this way, consumer awareness means creating awareness of
a consumer towards their rights and duties.

OBJECTIVES OF CONSUMER AWARENESS

Following facts classify the need of making consumers aware:

1. To achieve maximum satisfaction :

 Therefore it is necessary that one
should get the goods which are
measured appropriately and
should not be cheated in any way.

2. Protection against exploitation :

Producers and sellers exploit the

consumers in many ways as
underweighting, taking more price
than the market price, selling
duplicate goods, misleading
advertisements etc. Consumer
awareness shields them from the
exploitation by producers and sellers.

3.Control over consumption of harmful goods :

The consumer education and

awareness motivate people not to
purchase goods like tobacco, liquor
etc which are very harmful for them.

4. Motivation for saving :

The awareness controls people from

wastage of money and extravagancy
and inspire them to take right
decision.

5. Knowledge regarding solution of problems :

The consumers are cheated due to

illiteracy, innocence and lack of
information.Through consumer
awareness they are also made
known to the proceedings of laws so
that they can solve their problems.
6. Construction of healthy society :

Every member of the society is a

consumer. So, if the consumer is
aware and rationale, then complete
society becomes healthy and alert
towards their rights.

EXPLOITATION OF CONSUMERS

When a consumer is cheated in any way, either by the shopkeeper or the

producer, by giving him poor quality or adulterated goods or by charging more
price for a commodity or a service, it is called consumer’s exploitation.

Consumers are cheated in the market by the following ways :

1. High Prices :

Traders can charge a price higher than the price prevailing in the market
because of the ignorance and urgency of the customer.

2. Underweight and under measurement :

By their cleverness, some traders scoop so low that they cheat the consumer
by resorting to under weight and under measurement tactics.

3. Sub standard quality :

Some traders sell substandard quality products to the consumer. Now a days
markets are full of duplicate products.

4. Adulterated and impure products :

In edible items such as oil, ghee and spices adulterated is made in order to
earn higher profits.

5. Improper information :
Companies spend a considerable amount on advertisement alone to attract
consumers and feed information that they want the consumers to know but not
the information the consumers should know about the products.

6. Lack of safety devices :

Some producers try to produce things of poor quality without caring for the
standard safeguard norms.

7. Poor after sale service :

Many things need adequate after sale service. But most of the sellers do not
provide it.

8. False Claims :

Sellers make false claim about the durability & quality of their products mainly
through advertisements.

9. Hoarding & blackmarketing :

To make more profit sellers indulge in creating artificial scarcity through

hoarding & black marketing.

10. Rough Behavior & undue conditions :

Consumers are often harassed and undue conditions are put before them to
get their requirement fulfilled.

CONSUMER'S RIGHTS

Consumer Rights are as Follows :

1. Right to Safety: This is the first and the most important of the Consumer
Rights. They should be protected against the product that hampers their
safety. The protection must be against any product which could be
hazardous to their health – Mental, Physical or many of the other
factors.
 2. Right to Information: They should be informed about the product. The
product packaging should list the details which should be informed to
the consumer and they should not hide the same or provide false
information.

3. Right to Choose: They should not be forced to select the product. A

consumer should be convinced of the product he is about to choose and
should make a decision by himself. This also means consumer should
have a variety of articles to choose from. Monopolistic practices are not
legal.

4. Right to Heard: If a consumer is dissatisfied with the product purchased

then they have all the right to file a complaint against it. And the said
complaint cannot go unheard, it must be addressed in an appropriate
time frame.

5. Right to Seek Redressal: In case a product is unable to satisfy the

consumer then they have the right to get the product replaced,
compensate, return the amount invested in the product. We have a
three-tier system of redressal according to the Consumer Protection Act
1986.

6. Right to Consumer Education: Consumer has the right to know all the
information and should be made well aware of the rights and
responsibilities of the government. Lack of Consumer awareness is the
most important problem our government must solve.

CONSUMER RESPONSIBILITIES

The consumer has a certain responsibility to carry as an aware consumer can

bring changes in the society and would help other consumers to fight the
unfair practice or be aware of it.

1. They should be aware of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act
and should practice the same in case of need.

2. They should be well aware of the product they are buying. Should act
as a cautious consumer while purchasing the product
 3. If in case a product is found of anything false or not satisfactory a
complaint should be filed.

4. The consumer should ask for a Cash Memo while making a purchase

5. A customer should check for the standard marks that have been
introduced for the authenticity of the quality of the product like ISI or
Hallmark etc.

CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of India

enacted in 1986 to protect the interests of consumers in India. It makes
provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for
the settlement of consumer's disputes and for matters connected there with
also.

According to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 A consumer is one that buys
good for consumption and not for the resale or commercial purpose. The
consumer also hires service for consideration.

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, was enacted to provide a simpler and
quicker redressal to consumer grievances. The Act seeks to promote and
protect the interest of consumers against deficiencies and defects in goods or
services. It also seeks to secure the rights of a consumer against unfair trade
practices, which may be practiced by manufacturers and traders.

The Consumer Rights under COPRO include :

1. The right to be protected from all kind of hazardous goods and services

2. The right to be fully informed about the performance and quality of all
goods and services

3. The right to free choice of goods and services

4. The right to be heard in all decision-making processes related to

consumer interests
 5. The right to seek redressal, whenever consumer rights have been
infringed

6. The right to complete consumer education

The Act applies to all goods and services unless specifically exempted by the
Union Government and covers all sectors, whether private, public, or
cooperative.

This Act has provided a machinery whereby consumers can file their
complaints. These complaints will then be heard by consumer forums with
special powers so that action can be taken against erring suppliers and
possible compensation is awarded to the consumer for the hardships he/she
has undergone.

The consumer, under this law, is not required to deposit huge court fees,
which earlier used to deter consumers from approaching the courts. The rigors
of court procedures have been replaced with simple procedures as compared
to the normal courts, which helps in quicker redressal of grievances. The
provisions of the Act are compensatory in nature.

REDRESSAL AGENCIES

The Three Tier System Under Consumer Act includes :

1. District Forum : These fora are set by the district of the state
concerned in each district wherein it consists of President and two
members of which one should be a woman and is appointed by the
State Government. In this, the complaining party should not make a
complaint more than 20 Lacs and once the complaint is filed the goods
are sent for testing and if they found defective the accused party should
compensate and if the party is dissatisfied can make an appeal with
state commission within 30 days.

2. State Commission : This is set up by each state It consists of

President and two members. Complains should be at least 20 lacs and
exceed not more than 1 crore. The goods are sent for testing and if
found defective are asked for replacement or compensation. If not
 satisfied can make an appeal within 30 days in front of the National
Commission.

3. National Commission : Consist of President and 4 members. The

complaint must exceed an amount of 1 crore. The goods are sent for
testing and if found defective are asked for replacement or
compensation

CASE STUDY

1. Right to be informed

2. Right to information

The right to information is defined as ‘the right to be informed about the

quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as
the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices’
in the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.

There is another right claimed by Indian government on paper, this right must
ideally make sure that all consumable products have been labeled in a
standard manner containing the cost, quantity, the ingredients and instructions
given to use the product safely.

There should be establishment of unit price publishing standards for consumer

market where costs are revealed in standard units like per kg or per liter. The
consumers, ought to be informed in an exact yet accurate manner for the cost
involved during time of availing a loan. For providing benefit to the society
through this right, advertisers must be held against the standards of products
in the advertisements. The pharmaceuticals require todisclose potential side
effects related to their drugs and manufacturers ought to be required to
publish reports from independent product testing laboratories for the purpose
of comparing the quality of their products from competitive products.

The right to information gives the power to the consumers to have an easy
access to information which is necessary for the consumer.