Consumer Advocacy's Effect on the Modern Business

| Sunday, June 17, 2012
By Robert Jellison


It's been said that in today's money-centric community if you want a voice, you vote with your greenback. With more corporations moving into the waters of conglomeration and rallying like-minded money to comparable causes which might be "good for business," it can be hard to make ones words be considerably more than a drop of water landing in a ocean of opinion. The fact remains, however, that we the buyer are (clearly) the life-giver in this economy. Undoubtedly we consumers could conglomerate also, correct? Surely we're able to work together to uncover positive conditions for the (gasp) public?

Enter consumer advocacy. If our money head to firms that then use that money in order to lobby to get regulation in Washington then one may determine that yes, we do actually vote with our dollar. By educating ourself about item sources, organizational tactics, etcetera we are able to efficiently pick what businesses stick around along with which companies do not. We also influence behaviour, if I'm a company and I recognize I'm being watched - I'm more likely to keep my grubby fingers out from the cookie jar so to speak.

The action of consumer advocacy is no new notion, nonetheless it seems to be a tool that may be starting to become understood by the public. Numerous cultural movements have used consumer advocacy as a tool for several years, but only now is it reaching a critical mass that's reinventing the standard business design.

Philanthropy is now a marketing and advertising instrument - and for good reason. If a business like Enlighten Natural Candles, who gives 25% of all of their earnings to charity, will get more business due to their philanthropic conduct then this is a good thing. It shows the collective ethic, which seems very much to be trending upward. Those of us parked in front of the T.V. may well not see it, but the Internet community absolutely does.

So do I purchase shoes from a business whom knowingly exploits workers, or from Toms which gives a pair away for every pair sold? Do I purchase a vehicle from a company which intentionally suppresses technological innovation that could improve safety and be more efficient or a vehicle from Tesla Motors who is approaching our oil dependence using brute innovation? I think the answer is obvious, the responsibility is on the back of the buyer to hold business's feet towards the flame. Make your dollar matter.




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