Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Consumers of the World Unite - Part 1 - The Problem

This is going to be a two-parter blog. Part 1 is the description of what I see is the problem, while part 2 is my idea for a possible solution.

Since I have a worldwide audience, certain parts will appear to make more sense for certain countries than others.
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Consumers of the world unite.

As the world becomes less about individual governments, the commercial sector begins gradually taking over, through Lobbying for example, or through advertising on the media which attempts to rile up the public against things that it doesn't like - sometimes clearly, while other times it does this discreetly, and sometimes even illegally (such as having 'people' write positive things about the company or whatever).


With the government becoming slightly less important, and with all the expensive lobbying which the general public can't afford, there needs to be a way of taking back control.


If a company enacts bad policies, mistreats its clients, or performs some other actions which the general public does not like, we're supposed to find a solution to push it back on the right track. Similarly, if a company treats its clients well, or performs some good acts - then it should be rewarded.

One of the most popular 'solutions' in the 'free market' is to "Vote with your wallet". However even this has numerous problems:


1. The common public is a number of directionless sheep. They naturally follow leaders and don't want to be the first to change


2. The common public is fragmented. There is no communication to get a common goal.

3. There is a lack of personal information transfer. A person with a bad experience can not easily transfer this information to others, similarly with good experiences


4. There is a lack of information about 'embarassing' policies. For example - certain people wouldn't use a product if they knew it was tested on animals, or produced by child labour, or were the cause of a civil revolution in order to ensure their products got through (not joking about the last one).


So given these, larger corporations are allowed to get away with anything they want, and the public can do very little to change this. My idea for the solution will come in Part 2.


If you agree with me, feel free to spread this around - if you don't, feel free to comment below. I will engage anyone in a discussion ;)


Regards


Llama

1 comment:

  1. All the problems you highlight would remain pertinent even if you replace 'corporation' with 'government'

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