I had a preconceived notion that I understood the term "Consumerism". My thought was that the term addressed protections for the consumer. However, while reading, The Essential Peter Drucker he uses the term "Consumerism" as an idea that has been usurped by advertising and selling. He vilified the failure of marketing in meeting the true objective of consumerism. He declares it to be diluted into the "shame of marketing." (p.21)
Despite the emphasis on marketing and the marketing approach, marketing is still rhetoric rather than reality in far too many businesses. "consumerism" proves this. For what consumerism demands of business is that it actual market. It demands that business start out with the needs, the realities, the values of the customers. It demands that business base its reward on its contribution to the customer. ...after twenty years of marketing rhetoric consumerism could become a power popular movement proves that not much marketing has been practiced. Consumerism is the "shame of marketing." The Essential Peter Drucker pg 21.
I looked for a more comprehensive definition of consumerism and found this blog post and definition by Smitri Chand.
Peter Drucker defines consumerism as follows:“Consumerism means that the consumer looks upon the manufacturer as somebody who is interested but who really does not know what the consumers’ realities are. He regards the manufacturer as somebody who has not made the effort to find out, who does not understand the world in which the consumer lives and who expects the consumer to be able to make distinctions which the consumer is neither willing nor able to make. ”
On the analysis of the above definition, consumerism challenges four important premises of the marketing concept. Firstly, it is assumed that consumers know their needs. Secondly, it is assumed that business really cares about those needs and knows exactly how to find about them.
Thirdly, it is assumed that business does provide useful information that precisely matches product to need. Finally, it is presumed that products and services really fulfil customer expectations as well as business premises.
Based on this my take is that consumerism is the due diligence that consumers have to go through to find a product and service that meets their need and the marketing that the provider of the good or service goes through to create a product that anticipates this consumer need, addresses it to consumers satisfaction, and information about the product to help the consumer understand that.
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