Consumer power
Rob, that idea that the 'public votes with its feet', or that companies worry about their public image and therefore adjust accordingly is a common one put forward by people who support capitalism, or the free market, or private enterprise. It seems to have something to kit, it seems to make sense. We can see that companies do decline in sales because of a bad image. But I dont think its very convincing, or its not enough of a dynamic to rely on.
for a start it is based on the ideal of consumers being rational, well informed people, the homo economicus idea. I think its pretty clear that most of us are NOT that. We buy irrationally, on impulse, we just buy the quickest thing, easiest to hand when we are in a rush, we just stick to a buying habit (even if a better,more rational, choice is near by) , in that case ‘brand loyalty’ actually means ‘brand irrationality’. Also that most of us are pretty uninformed about the products we buy - we dont really know what goes into them or how healthy they are for us, and 90% never think of the poor Chinese or Indonesian workers who have actually MADE the thing we are buying. Or that stores are almost always too warm, so that we cant think straight, and buy without really considering it fully in a cool, calm rational manner. So, stick all that together and the very basis for this homo economicus idea is clearly very weak. Or rather, it does not work in reality, because so many other forces distort it.
Also, as Louis here (taking a break from talking bollocks about religion, im glad to say) says if there are massive interferences from a tiny power elite then these distort public buying habits and opinion in several ways also - feeding into the practical examples i just mention.
Out of interest, the idea of homo economicus would work in anarchism MUCH better. Because in that there would be no state inference in our rational buying process, no massive media campaigns by huge corporations to cheat us into thinking their product was great, none of this brand loyalty crap, etc. And information about products would be supplied on purely factual grounds, no alluring images and adverts made that try to associate the product with sex, power, etc - jjust the info about A or B service or product, ‘straight’. In an anarchist society, even a non-capitalist anarchist society, we would all have our say in both the production AND consumption plans and habit of the society, the area, the council, the workplace we were part of. So, if you like the idea of rational, well informed consumers -anarchism is for you!
Rob, that idea that the 'public votes with its feet', or that companies worry about their public image and therefore adjust accordingly is a common one put forward by people who support capitalism, or the free market, or private enterprise. It seems to have something to kit, it seems to make sense. We can see that companies do decline in sales because of a bad image. But I dont think its very convincing, or its not enough of a dynamic to rely on.
for a start it is based on the ideal of consumers being rational, well informed people, the homo economicus idea. I think its pretty clear that most of us are NOT that. We buy irrationally, on impulse, we just buy the quickest thing, easiest to hand when we are in a rush, we just stick to a buying habit (even if a better,more rational, choice is near by) , in that case ‘brand loyalty’ actually means ‘brand irrationality’. Also that most of us are pretty uninformed about the products we buy - we dont really know what goes into them or how healthy they are for us, and 90% never think of the poor Chinese or Indonesian workers who have actually MADE the thing we are buying. Or that stores are almost always too warm, so that we cant think straight, and buy without really considering it fully in a cool, calm rational manner. So, stick all that together and the very basis for this homo economicus idea is clearly very weak. Or rather, it does not work in reality, because so many other forces distort it.
Also, as Louis here (taking a break from talking bollocks about religion, im glad to say) says if there are massive interferences from a tiny power elite then these distort public buying habits and opinion in several ways also - feeding into the practical examples i just mention.
Out of interest, the idea of homo economicus would work in anarchism MUCH better. Because in that there would be no state inference in our rational buying process, no massive media campaigns by huge corporations to cheat us into thinking their product was great, none of this brand loyalty crap, etc. And information about products would be supplied on purely factual grounds, no alluring images and adverts made that try to associate the product with sex, power, etc - jjust the info about A or B service or product, ‘straight’. In an anarchist society, even a non-capitalist anarchist society, we would all have our say in both the production AND consumption plans and habit of the society, the area, the council, the workplace we were part of. So, if you like the idea of rational, well informed consumers -anarchism is for you!