Global Consumerism Issues - Iloka Benneth Chiemelie, Ehumadu Chika

GLOBAL CONSUMERISM ISSUES

The debate over the birth of consumerism is in a state of flux. Some scholars view it as an eighteenth century – European phenomena, which were later exported to the rest of the world (Trentmann, 2004).  In context, consumerism is viewed as the possibility to acquire material goods and life enjoyment. This possibility is associated is associated with the proliferation of retail outlets, and widespread consumerist values in the society (Trentmann, 2004)

A review of current literatures shows that consumerism is viewed as a phenomena associated with globalization (Wagener, 2008) and by necessity is a capitalist believe (Rules, 1987) which highlights the necessity of conspicuous consumption, overspending, and "shop till you drop" attitudes in consumers  (Benady, 2008; Hochman, 1999; Noah, 1999; O'Connor, 1991; Tugend, 2008). That is consumerism is content and customers assert their identity with the purchasing ability to afford anything above its recommended size. From the above discussion, it can be clearly seen that, consumerism is associated with negative issues that affect the business world. Some of these issues are as discussed below.

MARKET TOTALITARIANISM

Numerous areas of consumption in the hedonistic market place no longer offer consumers full control over their consumption practices and desires (Campbell and Falk, 1997). Such areas include food, drink and drugs consumption. Totalitarian corporations continue to product educating, consumer empowering and persuasive consumption adverts targeted to consumers in their quest for market dominance over competitors (Okogbule (2006; Gardiner, 2009).

Empirically, it can be clearly demonstrated that excess consumption of food, drink and pharmacy products can often lead to overeating, alcohol and drug addiction, nicotine abuse, and other direct consequences that are bad for consumer's health (Wathieu et al. 2002; Ng (2006)). With numerous choices to make for, consumers are tempted to undergo unnecessary purchases, and marketers continue to worsen the case through innovative and creative ways (Advertising) of trying to add more values for their products and urging consumers to pay more than they can usually afford (Wertenbrock, 1998).

A good example is shopping in the mall. Consumers tend to purchase more than what they want due to overabundance of choice and attractive packagings as well as other marketing tools like discount and promotional prices, and most consumers end up purchasing these products as these corporations have learned to control their buying behaviours. Most of these consumers end up paying with their credit card and some of these unnecessary purchase can either get wasted or add to consumer's weight (Chaikin, 2008, Rodgers et al., 2008; Peek-Asa et al. 2006).

It could be argued that controlling this issue through education is almost impossible, but from all angle it seems to be the only option. Thus, it could be recommended that consumers should be educated on these marketing practices for them to control their buying behaviour. Such education can include listing down all they want to purchase before going out for shopping.

HIGH ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Pollution (Air, Land and Sea) can become main environmental threat to human health, especially in crowded cities. Carbon monoxide is one of the most important indoor air pollution, as records show it continues to kill many people per year through accidental poisoning. It is exceptionally dangerous because it has no colour, smell or taste. Environmental pollutions results in severe environmental damages, which can include extinction of wildlife, contamination of waters and exposure to hazardous gasses (Harrison, 1996).

As industries continue to race towards customer satisfaction by increased productivity at all levels, they tend to underestimate the impact of gasses emitting from their production plants. These gasses are the main reason behind greenhouse effect and carbon dioxide poisoning. On the other hand, developing countries lack proper sanitation plans, this leaves the residents with no other choice but to litter the streets with wastes. Most of these wastes are washed into the rivers; contaminating the water and killing the aquatic lives in these rivers. There is no hiding the fact that almost all environmental issues are linked to consumerism and consumer heinous across the globe.

No matter how hazardous wastes and pollution can be, there is a common notion that pollution can never be fully eliminated. On the other hand, it is good news to understand that pollution is construable. In other to control this consumerism issues (pollution), it is recommended that strict policies be adapted as a code of conduct upon which all factories must operate with. This will reduce industrial pollutions and help make the environmental a better place for living. Planned sanitation and education are essential for controlling environmental pollution on individual level.

CONSTANT CONSUMPTION ON A GLOBAL BASIS

Consumer culture illustrates culture as the primary fabric of experience, meaning and behaviour (Geertz, 1983). Due to its internal, integrated complexity, consumer culture is seen by micro group of consumers coming together to form their own social solidarity and distinct, self-selected, and often transient cultural worlds through seeking common consumption interests (Belk and Costa, 1998; Kozinets, 2002; Schouten and McAlexander, 1995). This theory also conceives the ideology that consumption is constant across the globe and unstoppable (Warde, 1997).

Successful marketing is primarily dependent on profitably satisfying consumer needs and wants. Recognizing consumer behaviour drivers is also considerably diverse within, between, and across culture. The purpose of segmentation is to ultimately identify, and serve individuals with similar needs and behaviours (Wedel and Kamakura, 1999). These differences in needs, and behaviour as well as cultures and beliefs have been the background on the theorization of the idea that consumption is unstoppable in global basis. This is because people from different races, age grounds, sex and profession as well as other segments in the market desire certain goods and services more than other segments across the globe. These demands, coupled with constant creation of needs by corporations in pursuit of profit ensure that consumers continue to consumer unstoppably across the globe (Reijnders, 1999).

For instance, every human being has basic wants such as shelter, food and clothing. But these needs have expirations i.e. the house roof will get licking some days, the food will finish sometimes and the clothes will be damaged at some point. Thus, it brings up the need to repair and replace whenever these needs get damaged. Therefore, it can clearly be seen that at some point in time old things must go and new things must come which makes consumption unstoppable.

Although it could be argued that due to necessity of consumers to satisfy their wants, consumption could be unstoppable. But it is recommended that maintenance measures could be deployed to ensure that consumers limit their consumption rate. For instance, if our basic needs such as clothes are maintain through proper handling it will last longer and better.

INCREASING INDIVIDUAL CREDIT DEBT

Credit card use (Merskin, 1998; Livingstone and Lunt, 1992; Tokunaga, 1993; Neuner et al., 2005; Wiener et al., 2007) and credit card debt (Zhu and Meeks, 1994; Dessart and Kuylen, 1986; Berthoud and Kempson, 1992; Yang et al., 2007; Norvilitis et al., 2006; Kamleitner and Kirchler, 2007) has been extensively document in recent researches on consumer debts. Credit card debit have seen a high rise in recent years, following consumer's uncontrollable desire to spend more than they really want due to access to unlimited supply of fund from the card issuing institutions. This is also applicable in loans and mortgages as consumers constantly desire to possess everything at the same time.

Encomiasts are of the idea that debt accumulations can have both negative and positive effect on a nation's economy. On the positive note, debt accumulation provides financing for capacity building projects that can enhance a nation's productivity level. This is because; increase in debt is normally accompanied by government expenditure on productive capital formation (Modigliani, 1961). However, if a country accumulates more debts to a level that hampers its ability to repay past loans, this can result in a negative effect know as debt overhang. This is also applicable in the business world as companies can either fold or go bankrupt if they accumulate more debts than they can be able to repay back (Clements et al., 2004).

Based on the above argument, it can be seen that individual debt has a huge impact on nation's economy. On the consumer ground, the modern day live exposes consumers from virtually all countries with access to loan, and credit packages. This increases their purchasing power, and they tend to consumer more than they can swallow. Mishandling of funds and lack of financial planning has also been attributed to the major cause of rising individual debts. This is detrimental both to the success and individuals at large. On an individual bases, the borrower stands a high chance of losing the collateral and forfeiting already paid part of the loan if he is not able to make full payment of the loaned amount with interest as agreed with the financial institution. On a national level, it can lead to bankruptcy and folding of many institutions, which eventually results in economic recession.

These issues can be controlled by toughing the requirement's for obtaining a loan, and limit available credits per individual. Other measure that could be adapted is to educate the society on the risks of obtaining heavy loan. This could make them to think twice before applying for hefty loans and take possible measure to ensure all credits are settled within sufficient period of time to avoid the consequences of violation the terms and conditions.

CONSUMERISM IS SELF-LIMITING

Today, firms are under intense pressure to achieve new product introductions that conceive unsolved needs and provide the market with new values (Urban and Hauser, 1993). In the past, new product design and production where limited to specific industries and firms, but current competitive market made it a condition of survival (Abecassis-Moedas, 2006). This have led to production of goods and services that are aimed at satisfying human and limiting their ability to serve themselves by adopting these technologically high products for more effective and efficient service.

Products such as calculators (for calculation), remote controls (for controlling various gadgets), and dish washers can be commonly found in homes and places around us. Although these gadgets have been credited for their ability to aid human in doing their day to day task, it must be noted that they have also denied us to ability to be creative and undertake such tasks in our best of abilities. This makes human lazy and less knowledge to some extent (Brown, 2007).

For instance if we compare people who are less dependent on calculators to those who are more dependent on it, it can be seen that their ability to sum figure differ to some extent. This can also affect the way they think and analyse situations around their environment, as well as the way they perceive certain conceptions both negatively and positively. Putting all these examples into consideration, it is recommended that people who should less dependent on these gadget so that they can maintain certain level of knowledge and utilize their potentials to the uppermost level as it will be both beneficial to them and the society at large.

In conclusion, it can be seen that consumerism can be linked to virtually all environmental issues either directly or indirectly. This is because it puts organisations under pleasure to satisfy customers by all means, and the whole society in ruins of material possession which in turn results to social ills such as discussed above. Nevertheless, the research also proves that all these issues can be controlled and reduced to minimum rates, if steps as suggested above are well implemented and regulated as necessary. On the other hand, it is generally accepted that environmental issues no matter how little they are cannot entirely be eliminated, as different societies and individuals behave in different forms.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Belk, R.W. and Costa, J.A. (1998), "The mountain myth: a contemporary consuming fantasy", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 25, pp. 218-40.

Benady, A. (2008), "Farewell to consumerism", Campaign, July 11, pp. 22-3.

Berthoud, R. and Kempson, E. (1992), Credit and Debt: The PSI Report, Policy Studies Institution, London.

Brown, D.K., 2007. "Globalization: Implications for Employment, Wages and Labor Standards, Review of Literature," World Bank, Washington D.C.

Campbell, C. and Falk, P. (1997), (Eds), The Shopping Experience, Sage, London,

Chaikin, D. (2008), "Commercial corruption and money laundering: a preliminary analysis", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 269-81.

Clements, B., Bhattacharya, R. and Nguyen, T.Q. (2004), "External debt, public investment, and growth in low-income countries", in Gupta, S., Clements, B. and Inchauste, G. (Eds), Helping Countries Develop: The Role of Fiscal Policy, International Monetary Fund: External Relations Department, Washington, DC, pp. 105-29.

Dessart, W.C.A.M. and Kuylen, A.A.A. (1986), "The nature, extent, cause and consequence of problematic debt situations", Journal of Consumer Policy, Vol. 9, pp. 311-34.

Gardiner, L. (2009), "The foundation for corporate citizenship and sustainable businesses", paper presented at the VII Annual Local Networks Forum, Global Compact, Istanbul.

Geertz, C. (1983), Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology, Basic Books, New York, NY.

Harrison, R.M. (1996), Pollution: Causes, Effects and Control, The Royal Society of Chemistry, London.

Hochman, D. (1999), "Temples of blessed excess", New York Times, June 13, available at: www. nytimes.com

Kamleitner, B. and Kirchler, E. (2007), "Consumer credit use: a process model and literature review", European Review of Applied Psychology, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 267-83.

Kozinets, R.V. (2002), "Can consumers escape the market? Emancipatory illuminations from burning man", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29, pp. 20-38.

Livingstone, M.S. and Lunt, K.P. (1992), "Predicting personal debt and debt repayment: psychological, social and economic determinants", Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 111-34.

Merskin, D. (1998), "The show for those who owe: normalization of credit on lifetime's debt", Journal of Communication Inquiry, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 10-26.

Modigliani, F. (1961), "Long-run implications of alternative fiscal policies and the burden of the national debt", Economic Journal, Vol. 71 No. 4, pp. 730-55.

Neuner, M., Raab, G. and Reisch, L.A. (2005), "Compulsive buying in maturing consumer societies: an empirical re-inquiry", Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 509-22.

Ng, D. (2006), "The impact of corruption on financial markets", Managerial Finance, Vol. 32 No. 10, pp. 822-36.

Noah, T. (1999), "People's choice awards", New York Times, August 18, available at: www. nytims.com.

Norvilitis, J.M., Merwin, M.M., Roehling, V.P., Young, P. and Kamas, M.M. (2006), "Personality factors, money attitudes, financial knowledge, and credit-card debt in college students", Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 36 No. 6, pp. 1395-413.

O'Connor, J. (1991), "Review/television: shopping as the point and the prize", New York Times, July 8, available at: www.nytimes.com

Okogbule, N.S. (2006), "An appraisal of the legal and institutional framework for combating corruption in Nigeria", Journal of Financial Crime, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 92-106.

Peek-Asa, C., Casteel, C., Kraus, J.F. and Whitten, P. (2006), "Employee and customer injury during violent crimes in retail and service businesses", American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 96 No. 10, pp. 1867-72.

Reijnders L. 1999. A normative strategy for sustainable resource choice and recycling. Resources Conservation and Recycling 28: 121-133.

Rodgers, P., Williams, C.C. and Round, J. (2008), "Workplace crime and the informal economy in Ukraine: employee and employer perspectives", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 35 No. 9, pp. 666-78.

Rules, S. (1987), "Tanzania courting foreigners to manage its hotels", New York Times, April 23, available at: www.nytimes.com.

Schouten, J.W. and McAlexander, J.H. (1995), "Subcultures of consumption: an ethnography of the new bikers", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 22, pp. 43-61.

Tokunaga, H. (1993), "The use and abuse of consumer credit: application of psychological theory and research", Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 14, pp. 285-316.

Trentmann, F. (2004), "Beyond consumerism: new historical perspectives on consumption", Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 373-401.

Tugend, A. (2008), "Embracing traditions, dodging consumerism", New York Times, December 6, available at: www.nytimes.com

Wagener, P. (2008), "Globalization and a divided community in South Africa", Tydsrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, Vol. 48 No. 4, pp. 401-13.

Watthieu, L., Brenner, L., Carmon, Z., Chattopadhyay, A., Werthenbroch, K., Drolet, A., Gourville, J., Mathurkrishnan, A. V., Novemsky, N., Ratner, R. K. and Wu, G. (2002), "Consumer control and empowerment: A primer", Marketing Letters, Vol.13 No. 3, pp. 297-305.

Warde, A. (1997), Consumption, Food and Taste: Culinary Antinomies and Commodity Culture, Sage, London.

Wedel, M. and Kamakura, W.A. (1999), Market Segmentation: Conceptual and Methodological Foundations, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA.

Wertenbrock, K. (1998), "Consumption self-control by rationing purchase quantities of virtue and vice", Marketing Science, Vol. 17 pp. 317-337.

Wiener, R.L., Holtje, M., Winter, R.J., Cantone, J. A., Gross, K. and Block-Lieb, S. (2007), "Consumer credit card use: the roles of creditor disclosure and anticipated emotion", Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 32-46.

Yang, S., Markoczy, L. and Qi, M. (2007), "Unrealistic optimism in consumer credit card adoption", Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 170-85.

Zhu, Y.L. and Meeks, B.C. (1994), "Effect of low-income families ability and willingness to use consumer-credit on subsequent outstanding credit balance", Journal of Consumer Affairs, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 403-22.