Need for a consumer society

One of my friends who visited from Australia had a problem with a branded computer he had bought from a renowned place in Colombo. Even though the company claimed the instalment basis with interest free as their special New Year bonanza, there was a different calculation altogether.

Finally he had to pay more than the amount mentioned in the advertisement, so he wanted to complain and asked me whether we had any consumer societies appearing on behalf of those impacted by such unethical activities and creating awareness among society.

I told him (according to my knowledge) there was no such a formal association. Even we have Consumer Protection Act which can be considered as toothless tiger. Most of us experience the same incidents in different situations in supermarkets, hospitals, etc. This is common in day-to-day life.

Actually in Sri Lanka we need a party (not political party as some politicians even will undertake to exploit this as they are good in that) representing us (consumers), because this is the period which most of practitioners and academics consider as ‘golden era for consumers’. However, that also can be deemed as “gimmick” in capitalist society.

There is no society or mechanism here in Sri Lanka to represent consumers. In this context, the term of ‘consumerism’ is important. What is this consumerism? The term ‘consumerism’ was first used in 1915 to refer to ‘advocacy of the rights and interests of consumers’. Some schools of thought defined ‘consumerism’ as ‘the movement seeking to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees and improved safety standards’. Here we do not consider economic interpretation on this as it suggests that an economic theory that increases consumption is beneficial to a nation’s economy in the long run.

Most countries have their own association in order to protect consumers, set up by professionals in different fields. It is worthwhile to explore success stories in order to understand the noble job performed by these associations.

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) in Malaysia is one of the examples which Sri Lanka can benchmark. The CAP is unique and has caught the imagination of many in Malaysia but also many outside Malaysia through its approach towards consumerism – a combination of activism and popular mainstream activity. The ultimate aim of this association is to create critically-aware consumers.

As consumers, we need to understand rules and regulations pertaining to different buying situations, latest issues on different products and services, prices, Government activities and dumping made by some countries in Sri Lanka, etc. There should be a pressure group which should concern itself with the wellbeing of the consumer, the environment and health.

Please refer the following Vision and mission statements of CAP along with objectives:

Vision: Giving a voice to the little people – that is the objective of the Consumers’ Association of Penang. And that’s what we have been doing since our establishment in 1970.

Mission: To promote and strive for a more ecologically sound and socially just society.

Objectives:

To educate consumers, balance consumer needs and degree of protection and to provide relevant consumer rights and entitlements.

To advice individual consumers and protect their rights.

To ensure prices of goods are fair and appropriate with relevance to its quality and value.

To work with the existing laws in order to protect consumer’s interest and general health.

To encourage the involvement of society and citizens (consumers) in the consideration, standardisation and basic provision of their rights.

To work towards ensuring production of high quality products.

To study the fluctuations in the market with regards to the factors affecting it, and to advice or make suggestions to the ministry and organisations involved in the business and commercial sectors.

To carry out activities such as the publication of bulletins and ceiling price lists, as well as forming market organisations and consumer clubs.

Even the CAP discusses the economics issues in related to country in order to keep the general public aware on this. For example, it discusses ‘Why GDP is not a good measure of economic prosperity’. And answers ‘What is trade justice?’, ‘What’s wrong with trade?’ and sees ‘Development as a form of theft’. This actually shed light on the knowledge economy as well.

The CAP on its website carries news items in order to educate the public on health problems/diseases. For children, the CAP website has a separate section with articles on how caffeine affects children, the effect of heavy school bags and so on.

Even in the case of complaints, there is a separate section allocated in the website offering guidelines to interested customers (victims) including all information, including the well-written three steps to writing letters of complaint. By looking at the objectives as well as the substance, the nature of the organisation and its relevance to our society as well can be understood.

There is an ongoing debate in Sri Lanka on the share market. If there is an association like this, it will facilitate the voice of all parties, including small traders. Furthermore, this sort of association will create a forum for everyone.

Recently the Government’s decision to transport fruits and vegetables in plastic crates ran into problems in several parts of the country. Actually it would have been better if there was a consumer society to discuss these matters on behalf of the consumers with the Government. Furthermore, there should be a forum to educate the general public on diseases and health problems in order to create a better environment for all. More importantly, there ought to be a place to represent the consumer, regardless of their age, income and gender in the event they encounter a problem.

The concept of a consumer society can be regarded as a duty vested in professionals in Sri Lanka, because this will enable the wellbeing of society and act as catalyst in the development process in the country at this most important juncture.

(The writer is a Chartered Marketer and Consultant, Senior Lecturer in Marketing – Open University of Sri Lanka and a certified trainer for tutors and mentors in online learning. He holds an MBA (Colombo), B. Sc Mkt. (Special) (SJP), MCIM, Dip in MKT (UK), MSLIM, MAAT and Dip in CMA, Chartered Intermediate from ICASL.)