The Right to Vote ... and ... Your Consumer Power

[Angela Shelley]

Imagine this:

We have a Democracy. Let´s say that every adult has the right to vote. Let´s say that every adult registers to vote and also participates in the voting process on election day. Let´s say, that the votes are correctly counted and the one with the most votes is called "the leader", and he/she will be "the leader" for 4 years. The leader makes decisions with the advice of the other handfuls of elected officials.

For the minority of the population, their votes didn´t influence anything. This means, that every time an election takes place, the individual voter takes the risk of his/her vote not being "for the winning party". But still, everyone should vote, because through the voting process, each individual also has a good chance of influencing political decisions.


Now think about "Your Consumer Power".

Every person in our society is a consumer. Every single day, we make consumer decisions which affect our society. Each time we trade money for goods or services, each time we give a donation to an organization, each time we invest money with the hope of earning interest, we are making a political statement.

Every single consumer decision is a political statement.

Your choice of bank, the car you drive, the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the entertainment you enjoy, the religious organization to which you belong ... you are making political decisions in almost every hour of every day.

We, the consumers, decide the future of our society.

If we, the consumers, walk more and drive less, the oil industry will react.
If we, the consumers, stop using credit cards, the financial industry will react.
If we, the consumers, demand quality products, the manufacturing industry will react.
If we, the consumers, boycott a company for treating their employees poorly, the company will react.

We, the consumers, are the ones who decide which businesses thrive, survive, or die.

Are you fully aware of "your consumer power"?

[LynzM]

1. Excellent point.

Vote your Wallet. For a reason... as you say, the corporations may not follow legislation, or the government may not legislate against the corporations, but if the corporation faces a "change or fail" financially, that may get a wee bit more attention.

Now, to convince the masses, especially those who are struggling just to get by. :(

[Angela Shelley]

2. Everyone is a consumer, that´s true Democracy.

even if they are struggling, living paycheck to paycheck, or easily making ends meet.

Corporations don´t care about race, sexual preference, religion, age, level of education, etc.

Corporations only care about attracting "consumer attention in form of dollars".

Every consumer has dollars to spend. Every consumer has decisions to make.

[LynzM]

3. True.

I'm just saying that it's hard to make the choice to buy local, high quality items, or buy organic, sustainably-farmed food, when those options are generally more expensive than the mass-produced, cheaper items, or cheapest food available. :(

[Angela Shelley]

4. I agree with you

but even at the end of the month, when my grocery money is running out, I have the right to choose.

The next time you go shopping, look closely at the amount of "junk" which is being offered to consumers, and then watch consumers at the cash register, using their credit cards to buy the "junk".

Individual households still have the power to make sound decisions.

[ThomCat]

5. Consumer power means very little

when people led to want fads and unnecessary consumer products.

Consumer power is useless when you must buy stuff that doesn't help you (like many insurance policies) or when there are no choices who to give your money too (when the big corporations drive the small ones out of business) or when the corporations that get your money are so huge that you're just a source of income to them, not someone they need to listen to or care about (big banks, for example).

Consumer power means absolutely nothing when the people who get your money don't care about your opinions and know they control the flow of money far more than you do. Citibank is a great example of this. They don't care how many people are losing their homes. They don't care that they helped cause all of that. They only care about making their numbers, and they've got our government working to keep them alive no matter how much the housing crash hurts real people.

Consumer power is as much an illusion as anything else.

[Angela Shelley]

6. If you truly think that consumer power is an illusion,

then try this:

Change banks.

Change insurance companies.

Go out of your way to shop at a "small business".

Send an e-mail or a letter to a corporation which "pisses you off".

Send an e-mail or a letter of appreciation to a business which "tickles your fancy".

[ThomCat]

7. I've changed banks.

It's a pain in the ass and has no effect on the bank.

I've changed insurance companies. Unless a million of us all make the same change it doesn't have any effect either.

Shopping at small businesses is the only choice that makes a difference, but that only helps if there are still small businesses to support.

Sending e-mails to corporations is pretty useless. If it's bad they don't care unless it's a potential lawsuit. You might get some token response and a gift certificate. Sending a good e-mail will only help them if you give permission for them to site it in their marketing.

:shrug:

[Angela Shelley]

8. I used to bank with Citibank

but several years ago, I switched to another bank. I have told all of my friends and neighbors to stay away from Citibank.

Maybe it didn´t change Citibank, but it changed me. I refuse to be a part of the problem.


I was recently annoyed with a certain TV commercial, I sent the marketing department an e-mail, expressing my thoughts. They wrote back that they had the same message from thousands of viewers and that they were changing the commercial.

Yes, it´s another experience which showed me that I have a voice, every single day.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. We can all exercise consumer power in some domains.

You're right that for some things like insurance we have little opportunity to flex our consumer muscle. We can however make choices in where we bank and what we buy, again with limits that vary from individual to individual. Sometimes income, lack of transportation or other issues may reduce or remove the choice and we have to deal with the businesses who don't care at all, but not always.

When the purchase is discretionary or there is a choice of suppliers consumers can flex their collective muscle by refusing to buy items or shopping at store B rather than store A. Voting with your wallet does work if enough people do it.

[Angela Shelley]

18. So let´s flex our collective consumer muscles,

and vote with our wallets!

[Angela Shelley]

9. A good example of "Your Consumer Power" at this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2446896

[scorpiogirl]

10. I agree with you.

That's really the only way these days that we can 'vote.' At least for me personally, if I know I haven't bought into the crap, I feel better about my choices. I do not want to feed the capitalism machine anymore than necessary.

[Angela Shelley]

11. Thanks scorpiogirl,

for your comments and "being part of the solution".

[Angela Shelley]

12. The problem is not "capitalism",

the problem is the unwillingness of the consumers to make responsible decisions, because it is time consuming and sometimes uncomfortable.

[whosinpower]

13. The real problem with today

Is that everything is translated into value via money.

Imagine a world where money became an archaic system that is rejected. Imagine a world where stuff is rejected as just stuff - of little real importance to the quality of lives of people. I want to live on Star trek, and get off the ratrace of chasing dollars to live. ;-)

[Angela Shelley]

14. I understand, but in the meantime,

we have to accept that we carry power in our purses/wallets, even if it´s just a small amount.

[porphyrian]

16. Consumer power is only effective en masse.

Corporations can go much longer taking a loss than most individuals can go without many consumer products, and they know that. That isn't to say we shouldn't make conscious decisions about our consumption as you suggest. Like our votes, which Florida Democrats no longer have for the primaries thanks to power struggles completely out of our control, our consumer power is fairly easy for those with real power to disregard.

[Angela Shelley]

17. Do you have an example of a consumer product

which most individuals cannot live without?