to hate the word 'consumer' ?

[IntergalacticHussy]

I can't hear the word without feeling that big business and world leaders prefer to think of us as mindless maggots chomping and spending our way through life, rather than as people. Am I wrong?

YABU.

how so?

Would you rather be called a 'user' then, as you 'use' services?

Just think of it in terms of hot chocolate.

Its not a nice term but unfortunately its all too accurate.

The only way to redress the balance is to ensure that - in whatever way you can - you are also a contributor.

YABU to think of mindless maggots when you hear the word. Can't elaborate any more, just think YABU. Doesn't matter.

no, i'd rather be referred to as a person. 'people who bought our product...'.

i just find the word dehumanising

I hate the phrase too because it underlines the fact that in Western economies consumption makes up a huge amount of our GDP - rather than production of goods and services.

The Govt stimulus packages around the Western world we are seeing (eg car scrappage schemes) are all aimed at tryng to get consumers in US/Europe to consume again. In fact, the last thing any Govt wants is for people to stop consuming and to instead start saving and paying down debt. What they seem to have forgotten though - is it was overconsumption paid for with far too much debt that got us in the crisis in the first place.

In some ways I think you are right. People in marketing/advertising talk about 'consumers' forgetting that they are human beings just like them.

However, I doubt many of them any of them really see you as a mindless maggot!

(By the way, you are also known as a 'shopper' and possibly a 'respondent', if you take part in research!)

exactly, beenbeta

... and the people who work in advertising and marketing (in which I include myself as a market researcher) are involved in helping to encourage consumption. By the very definition/nature of our jobs!

But you're not forced to be a consumer. You have plenty of choice that you can exercise.

But it's a one word description of what you are - you are the person who purchases, utilises, views, etc the prodeuct therefore the 'consumer'. You are not the 'seller', or the 'manufacturer'. As a descriptor it is very accurate.